By Sena Guler
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey's shipping industry has blossomed over the last 16 years, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.
"The Turkish shipping industry has blown the cobwebs away and blossomed again over the last 16 years," Erdogan said at the launch ceremony in Istanbul of a new test and training ship, the Ufuk (A-591).
On Turkey’s fight against terrorism, Erdogan said: "Over the last three years, we have scored many large successes against terror groups, especially Daesh and the PKK, who target our citizens’ lives and try to divide our country."
He added that all of the terrorist groups which shed the blood of Muslims, from Daesh to al-Qaeda, carry Western-made weapons.
"The PYD/YPG murderers carrying out a genocide in northern Syria have our allies’ rockets, bombs and weapons in their hands," Erdogan said, referring to U.S. support for the YPG/PKK, a Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children.