Terrorism cost Turkey $300 billion in 3 decades: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL

Attending the opening ceremony for the Istanbul Bourse, Erdoğan and some ministers hit the first bell at the bourse, which he says will make Istanbul a financial capital. AA Photo

Terrorism has cost Turkey $300 billion in the last three decades, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said while opening the Turkish stock market on April 5.

“Terror has cost Turkey around $300 billion over the past 29 years, according to a calculation ... Terror has taken lives and also targeted the economy. I hope we will save lives as well as bringing life to the economy with the solution process we are passing through,” Erdoğan said.

He underlined that many investments had failed to be realized in Turkey due to fears created by terror.

The statement came at a time when the government is making efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue and meetings are being done with the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan.

PKK leader’s letter on way to Kandil

Meanwhile, a letter written by Öcalan is on its way to Kandil, the mountains in northern Iraq where the PKK’s current armed leadership is located, CNN Türk has reported.

The letter first reached deputies of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), two of whom, Sırrı Süreyya Önder and party co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, are currently taking the letter to Kandil, according to CNN Türk.

Öcalan has not given clear messages about the withdrawal of the PKK from Turkish territory, but has written a new letter on the peace process, Demirtaş had previously said, according to Fırat news agency, which is known to have close links to the PKK.

Earlier reports quoted Öcalan as saying that the PKK militants could withdraw from Turkey without “legislative insurance and arms,” in his meeting with BDP deputies during their fourth visit to İmralı island, late on April 3. BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, BDP group deputy head Pervin Buldan and BDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder had visited Öcalan for the fourth time at the İmrali island prison, where he is serving a sentence of life imprisonment.