Turkish PM reiterates determined stance against terror

By Burcu Calik, Barış Gündogan, Sinan Uslu

ERZINCAN-Turkey (AA) – Turkey’s prime minister reiterated on Saturday the country’s determination to fight terror groups, including Daesh, PKK, and FETO, the group behind last year’s defeated coup attempt.

“This nation will never give any chance to either FETO members or separatists or Daesh members,” Binali Yildirim said in the eastern Erzincan province during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Kemaliye-Dutluca highway.

Praising the highways, airports, hospitals and factories built over the last 15 years of Justice and Development (AK) Party rule, Yildirim said that he would use all means in order to maintain Turkey’s “unity, togetherness and brotherhood”.

Turkey survived a deadly coup attempt on July 15 last year that martyred 250 people and injured nearly 2,200 others.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Turkey in recent years has stepped up its efforts against Daesh and the PKK both within its borders and outside, in northern Iraq.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.

Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.

On Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said that Turkish security forces would destroy every terrorist camp in Iraq and Syria, referring to the PKK and Daesh.

“It is our fundamental right to strike at terrorists wherever they are located," he said. “For this, Turkey needs permission from no one.”