(MENAFN- The Peninsula) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday Turkey cannot continue the peace process with the Kurds in the face of attacks against Turkish targets.
"It is not possible to carry on the (peace) process with those who target our national unity and brotherhood," Erdogan told a news conference at an Ankara airport before leaving for a visit to China. "Those who exploit the tolerance of the state and the people will receive the answer they deserve as soon as possible," he said.
Turkey, which considers the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) a terrorist organisation, launched peace negotiations with its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in late 2012 when Erdogan was prime minister.
But the process has been left in tatters after a bombing blamed on Islamic State (IS) militants in a mainly Kurdish border town last week that killed 32 people and triggered revenge attacks by Kurdish militants against Turkish security forces. Since then, Turkey has launched strikes against IS group in Syria and PKK positions in northern Iraq.
The PKK warned after the aerial bombardments that the truce largely observed since March 2013 has lost all meaning. The US backed the right of its Nato ally to bomb PKK.
Erdogan vowed to press ahead with anti-IS and anti-PKK operations. "Any step back is out of the question. This is a process and this process will continue with the same determination."
Nato affirmed support for Turkey's fight against "terrorism" at an emergency meeting called in Brussels to discuss Ankara's strikes against the IS fighters and Kurdish rebels. But some members expressed concerns that strikes on Kurdish fighters could torpedo peace talks with the rebels.
Erdogan said the formation of an "IS-free" safe zone in the north of war-torn Syria would help the return of many refugees.
"The clearance of those regions and of a safe zone there will lay the ground for 1.7 million citizens here to return home," he said.
Meanwhile, the military said an army sergeant was shot dead by a Kurdish militant near the Iraqi border, a day after gunmen killed a paramilitary police commander. Two Turkish F-16 jets later made "direct hits" on PKK targets in a mountainous region bordering Iraq.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.