Government promises 303-article plan against ‘terrorism’

ANKARA – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

A comprehensive action plan to fight terrorism across Turkey will be made public soon, a government spokesperson has announced.

“We will make public in the following days the action plan that will lead the fight against terror within its social and economic dimensions,” Deputy Prime Minister and Turkish government spokesperson Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Jan. 25. 

Kurtulmuş said the action plan consisted of 303 articles that took into account the social and economic dimensions of militancy. 

Turkey’s east and southeast have been hit by fighting between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since July 2015.

Stressing that counterterrorism activities topped the agenda of the cabinet meeting, Kurtulmuş said the action plan covered the fight against terrorism in five main topics, adding that the action plan would be finalized and immediately put into effect in the following days.

“This is a three-step process. Ending terrorism is the first, solving social and economic problems arising out of counterterrorism activities is the second. The last one is acting in unity and national integrity while doing all these,” Kurtulmuş said.

“We must endorse an open-information policy as the government,” he added.

Kurtulmuş said administrative measures expected to be taken within the action plan should be based on solid evidence and that the main goal of the action plan was the restitution of damages faced by civilians in southeastern towns during long-running curfews that were imposed by local governors during operations to root out PKK militants.

Making remarks on Silopi, a district in the southeastern province of Şırnak that had been under curfew for more than a month, Kurtulmuş said Turkey had been victorious in its counterterrorism operations in the southeastern town and that recovery and rebuilding would start soon in the area. 

“Our people continue living a normal life during the daytime. The curfew is in place at night for necessary military searches and raids. We will conduct recovery and rebuilding work. We thank all security personnel for the positive result we yielded in Silopi,” he added.

Silopi has been under a blanket curfew since Dec. 14, 2015, although the curfew was partially lifted on Jan. 19 with Turkey’s prime minister announcing that military operations against the PKK had ended in the town. Still, the curfew remains in place between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters during a visit to London that the operation in Silopi, near the border with Iraq, had ended “successfully.”

“There may be sporadic incidents, but all of the ditches [in Silopi] have been filled in, all of the barricades have been removed,” Davutoğlu said at a press conference during a visit to London on Jan. 19.