Erdoğan pledges stronger stance against terror, says PKK will either surrender or leave Turkey
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed that terror groups would not find comfort in Turkey, reaffirming the government's commitment to counterterrorism in especially eastern and southeastern parts of the country.
- Türkiye
- Published Date: 12:00 | 31 March 2017
- Modified Date: 12:58 | 31 March 2017
Addressing citizens at a public rally in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin on Thursday, Erdoğan said the government had launched a peace process to end the conflict with the PKK terrorist group in the region, "but they could not understand it, they, unfortunately, detonated bombs, dug ditches" and unilaterally ended the ceasefire.
"They [the PKK terrorists] will either return from this wrong way and surrender or leave this land," Erdoğan added. "Otherwise our soldiers, police and village guards will uproot them from this country."
In 2013, the Turkish government launched a solution process to end the decades-old conflict with the PKK terrorist group, a dispute which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people over more than 30 years in Turkey.
Erdoğan also added that there was no discrimination between citizens in the state.
"Don't allow anyone to enter between you and your own state. The nation -- you -- have been our only interlocutor until now," Erdoğan added.