By Esra Kaymak Avci
WASHINGTON
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that recent terror attacks in southeastern Turkey will never keep the country from fighting terrorists.
Delivering remarks at the Brookings Institute about global challenges and Turkey's goals for 2023, Erdogan said as Turkey's pressure on the terrorist PKK continued, the militants showed their "heinous face through such attacks and acts."
Shortly before the president started his speech, seven Turkish police officers were martyred in a PKK bomb attack in the southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakir, according to security forces. Therefore, he started his talk by expressing condolences to the victims and emphasizing that Turkey was determined to fight the group.
"We are determined and our people are determined to make sure that terrorism is no longer an obstacle to the progress in our country," Erdogan said, adding that terrorists were protected in one pretext or the other and kept attacking Turkey.
"We can't tolerate this anymore. The European countries and others in the globe we hope will see the true face of the PKK terrorist organisation and other terrorist groups though those attacks."
Erdogan also stressed that countries that took the most severe measures when it came to rights and freedoms if they felt any terror threat, could not talk about Turkey's democracy standards.
The president stressed that climate change, poverty, starvation and terrorism were global challenges currently, adding all were related to each other and needed to be discussed by all in order to find solutions.
"However, far from stopping the bloody minded dictators, we are facing the international community abstaining even from calling the terrorist groups as terrorists," Erdogan said.
He gave the example of a terrorist who killed a Turkish businessman 10 years ago and was living in Brussels, saying that the Belgian authorities did not hand the terrorist over though Turkey has been asking for him since the murder.
"When we ask them for the terrorist, the answer is that they support 'freedoms'," Erdogan said.
"What is this freedom? Can there be freedom for a terrorist. Who is going to seek for the right of the victim?"
The president added that in support of the PKK and PYD, fundraising campaigns and propaganda meetings were organized in Europe and that arms were sent to those groups.
"In such an environment, the messages that they deliver on showing solidarity against terrorism, remains meaningless," he stressed.
He also stated that most of the important crises that kept the world busy were being experienced around Turkey as it is located in the intersection of the most specific geographical, political, economic and cultural frontlines in the region.
Turkey's almost 100-kilometer (62 miles) border with Syria, 300 kilometers (186 miles) with Iraq and a very long border with Russia is surrounded by "troublesome territories," according to Erdogan.
"The crisis around us never deviated us from our humanitarian approach and will never deviate us from that approach," he said, adding that such an approach was a "must" to constitute stability and peace in the region.
He stressed that Turkey would not give up being a state of law, democracy and freedom even though the country is in the center of common threats from the world's most blood handed terror organizations such as PKK or Daesh.
"There is no other further country than Turkey when it comes to rights and freedom standards if compared to the high terror threats it is facing," he said. "We expect this right of Turkey to be recognized."
The president also stressed that the PKK had its own agenda and did not fight Daesh in Syria, referring to the PKK's affiliated groups, the PYD and its armed wing the YPG in Syria, which are holding the most territory in northern Syria right now. The U.S. supports the YPG and considers it as a reliable partner on the ground.
Reminding that Turkey provided the most humanitarian aid in the world with more than $10 billion for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Erdogan stated that the international community must provide more support for the issue.
He criticized European countries and others for dealing only with the migration issue when it comes the refugees and stated that state policies could not be built on only security measures.
He also stated that Turkey hoped the Minsk agreement to be implemented as soon as possible and that Ukrainian territorial integrity and the security of the Crimean and Tatari people were secured through it. Russia annexed Crimea, part of Ukraine, in 2014.
Talking also about the decades-long Cyprus issue of Turkey, Erdogan said Turkey's efforts to reach a "fair and permament" solution continued and that he hoped to reach it this year. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on the Meditterenean Sea is not recognized internationally. To solve the issue is a precondition for Turkey to become a member of the European Union.
Erdogan also touched upon the Palestinian Israeli issue, saying that Turkey never stayed away from the Palestinians who live under Israel's occupation and attacks. For a permanent peace in the Middle East, he added, this occupation has to end and Palestine should become a free state.
The president emphasized that there was an understanding that Islam was related to terrorism, saying he expected western countries to stay away from Islamophobia.
"As a member of this religion, as a Muslim, we reject all these claims," he said. "We can't accept to relate any of the celestial religions to terror."
