Turkey strong enough to bring PKK's puppet masters into line, Erdoğan says
Hurriyet.com.tr
AA photo
Turkey is powerful enough to bring the "enemy countries" that hold the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) strings into line, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today.Erdoğan sent a written message to offer his condolences to the Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel in the wake of yesterday night's PKK attack on a military outpost in the eastern province of Hakkari, which left six soldiers and two village guards dead and 15 soldiers and six civilians injured.
The PKK "once again" showed its enmity to Turkey's national and spiritual values by mounting a "dastardly" attack during the holy month of Ramadan, Erdoğan said, adding that terrorism was "destined to lose, wither and melt away in the face of the nation's determination."
The prime minister also pointed at possible foreign actors directing the PKK's attacks when he said Turkey was "strong enough to bring into line both the murderers controlled by the PKK and enemy countries that hold the PKK's strings."
The deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Ömer Çelik made a similar statement earlier today when he wrote that the latest attack was "beyond the PKK's capabilities" on his Twitter account. Çelik wrote the PKK was implementing the plans of a "multi-dimensional organization."
Çelik also said the PKK was acting "parallel to [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's massacre in Aleppo in carrying out attacks in Hakkari and Şemdinli."
'BDP branch office of Baath party'
Çelik also criticized the co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, for saying Erdoğan should answer for the killings. Çelik wrote that Demirtaş "admitted his complicity in the massacre" with his statement. "They expect benefits from the PKK's guns, act as spokespersons after the attack in Hakkari, and later talk of peace, democracy and freedom.”
The BDP declared itself as the branch office of the Baath party in Turkey with their stance in the wake of the latest attack, Çelik wrote.
The PKK's recent attacks showed that the PKK itself was the greatest threat to the prospect of a democratic order for Kurds, Çelik said.
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.