'Turkey destroyed nearly 13K terrorists since 2015'

By Havva Kara Aydin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey destroyed over 12,900 terrorists inside and outside of the country’s territories, said the Turkish president on Wednesday.

“[Since July 2015] More than 12,900 terrorists, including 6,000 in the country and 6,900 abroad, have been destroyed,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.

He underlined that Turkey, for the last five years, has eliminated a considerable number of senior terrorists that the PKK terror group gathered for years.

Erdogan said that since July 2015, the number of martyred security forces in operations carried out inside and outside Turkey’s territories is 1,259, including 401 soldiers, 443 gendarmerie personnel, 299 police officers, and 116 security guards.

He also noted: “Turkey has never shed blood of any innocent, has no shame of colonizing a single geography or society in the past and will never have.”

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.