‘Confrontation’ avoidable if armed groups leave Turkey: Turkish PM

ANKARA

AFP Photo

‘Confrontation’ can be avoided if all armed groups quit Turkey, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, vowing to continue security operations until all armed groups leave the country.

“These operations will continue until armed groups leave the country and lay down their arms, and until the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ceases to be a threat,” Davutoğlu said, addressing the “Civilian Initiative Against Terror” program, organized by the Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) on July 31.

The government’s will for a peace process is firm, but they will not accept any “non-confrontation” if Turkish police officers are killed, “exploiting” the peace process. 

Davutoğlu named the recent security campaign as the “peace and democracy operation.”

Using the ISIL attack in Suruç town, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) aimed to create rebellion, similar to the Kobane protests, while the DHKP-C provoked the country’s Alevis as well, the prime minister said.

He also made note of the July 23 security meeting as proof the government had acted in a timely fashion.

“If we hesitated in case of such an attack, if we had played time, saying ‘Wait and see because we are … charged with forming a government,’ be assured that Turkey would have been dragged into chaos by now,” he said.