PM Yıldırım vows that end of PKK activity in Turkey is ‘near’

ANKARA

The end of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) activities inside Turkey is “very near,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said.

“We can easily say this: There is no possibility for the PKK terrorist organization to recover,” Yıldırım said on Dec. 1 speaking at an event at the Gendarmerie General Command in the capital Ankara.

“The end of the terrorist organization’s activities inside Turkey is very near,” he added.

The prime minister said Turkish security forces would spare no effort in destroying the militants, while also acknowledging that some innocent people could get defamed by the PKK.

“Unfortunately, since the organization [PKK] does not have any sacred values.... it can defame innocent people as group members. We are aware of this,” he said.

The Turkish security forces’ fight against the PKK last year had turned into an “epic” struggle, Yıldırım said.

The prime minister also said Turkey displayed a more efficient struggle against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) than those bragging for what they did in Syria and Iraq, noting that Turkish security forces killed more than 4,000 members of the group.

Turkey denied entry to the country of more than 50,000 suspected foreign fighters, while Turkish security forces have caught more than 5,000 ISIL members and necessary legal actions are continuing, he added.

The prime minister also said the number of projects overseen by the defense sector had increased to 553 from 66.

“The total value of these projects amounted to over $60 billion. The annual turnover of the Turkish defense industry topped $6 billion in recent years from $1 billion,” he added.

Yıldırım said three out of 100 leading defense companies in the world were Turkish companies, adding that the country should become self-sufficient in the sector.