Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned of his country's determination to eliminate forces operating in northern Syria linked to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the near future.
“We have no tolerance for the terrorist organization PKK-SNA (the Syrian branch of the PKK “People's Self-Defense Forces“). We will soon take steps to radically resolve this problem if the SNA, which occupies a third of Syrian territory, does not heed the calls of the group's leader Abdullah Ocalan to lay down arms“, Erdogan said at a regional congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the southeastern city of Mersin. The broadcast was carried by the TRT Haber television channel.
Erdogan's ally in Turkey's ruling coalition, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, had previously made a proposal to resolve the Kurdish issue, calling on PKK leader Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence, to take the initiative to have his supporters lay down their arms. Representatives of the pro-Kurdish DEM party held talks with Ocalan late last year in a prison on the island of Imrali in the Sea of Marmara. According to reports in pro-government Turkish media, he may turn to the PKK before mid-February to end the armed confrontation with Turkey.
"The events initiated by Bahceli have entered their final stage. "If the terrorist organization PKK fulfills the call of its leader and its offshoot SNA does everything necessary, all of Turkey will win. Otherwise, we will solve the problem ourselves, using our successful operations in northern Syria. The problem of terrorism will be solved in any case," the Turkish president assured.