Erdogan: PKK suffering heaviest blows in its history

By Yesim Sert Karaaslan

GENEVA (AA) - Turkey’s president said Monday that the PKK terror group is suffering the heaviest blows in its history.

Speaking in Geneva while receiving European representatives of the International Democrat Union, Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised Turkey's anti-terror operations in Syria.

"The PKK terror group, both inside our borders and outside, is receiving the heaviest blows in its history," he stressed.

Erdogan said that by conducting three anti-terror operations in Syria over the last three years, Turkey destroyed the terror corridor the PKK was attempting to establish on the country's southern border.

He added that Turkey's anti-terror operations were also a "critical step" towards guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Syria.

Erdogan is in Geneva to attend the first-ever Global Refugee Forum between Dec. 16-18.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK's Syrian offshoot.

*Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara