Turkey will continue its military operations in northern Iraq and Syria against militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in order to “eliminate” their threat, Agence France-Presse reported, citing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday.
“We are preventing the terrorists who live on our borders from breathing,” said Erdoğan.
“Until the establishment of a country and a region without terror, we will continue this combat in several dimensions,” the president insisted as he cited the ongoing operations.
The PKK claimed it was behind last week’s attack on the headquarters of a state-owned defense contractor in Ankara that killed five people and wounded 22.
“Where we detect a threat to our country, both within and outside our borders, nobody can prevent us from eliminating it,” Erdoğan continued in an address to mark the 101st anniversary of the Turkish republic, saying he would stop at nothing to do so and “end terrorism.”
The PKK, which has waged an on-off insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.
Turkey has been accused of targeting Kurdish civilians in cross-border strikes, a charge the army denies.
Erdoğan called last Wednesday’s attack “the last effort” of the militant organization.
“We are now able to develop the weapons we need in the fight against terror and we do not require anyone’s permission,” Erdoğan added.
The head of state said that Turkey was in the process of equipping itself with “an iron dome” anti-aircraft defense system similar to the one Israel has, “but made of steel.”
He added that Turkey had also become “the world’s largest manufacturer of drones” and that “since 2018, 65 percent of the sales of armed drones in the world have been made by Turkish companies.”
