Turkey struggles most against ISIL, Erdoğan says

ANKARA

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Turkey is a country which struggles in the most determined manner against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and has paid the price for such a stance, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said while speaking at the eighth Ambassadors’ Conference in Ankara after the deadly suicide attack in Istanbul on Jan. 12.

“Is there any other country that struggles against the terrorist organization named Daesh [ISIL] in a more determined way than we do and which has paid a higher price [for this]?” he asked. 

Erdoğan also condemned the attack in Istanbul’s touristic Sultanahmet neighborhood.

 “Unfortunately, we have casualties in the terror attack,” he said. 

“May God rest the souls of those who lost their lives and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” the president said.

“This incident has showed once again that we have to stand in full unity against terror. Turkey’s resolute and principled position will continue,” he added. 

“It makes no difference to us what their names and abbreviations are. The first target of all terrorist organizations in this region is Turkey because Turkey is struggling against all of them with the same resolution,” he said. 

The president has called on the international community, particularly the European nations, to fight harder against terrorist organizations and their sponsor bodies.