ANKARA
All citizens in Turkey will be able to breathe again when the country manages to shake off its shackles of terror, Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.
Ala made the remarks Wednesday when he attended the Editors Desk of The Anadolu Agency and answered questions about the ongoing solution process with PKK.
The solution process was launched in 2013 to end the decades-old conflict with the proscribed group in the country's eastern and south-eastern regions. The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
The Turkish minister voiced the government’s determination to continue the process despite many attempts to harm it. "We have public support. Over 80 percent of the people in Turkey's eastern and south-eastern regions support the solution process," Ala said.
He also referred to some alleged circles in the past that deliberately worked to create problems among the public.
"We are talking about a new Turkey," he said. "The paradigm of today is not aimed at creating enemies inside the country for the sake of preserving the status quo," he added.
About the recent death of 12-year-old Nihat Kazanhan in Cizre town of Turkey’s southeastern Sirnak province, Ala reiterated that a police officer was arrested and three people were on trial for their alleged involvement in the incident.
"It is our duty to find out who is behind the incident, whether it is a terrorist, mafia, a group of gangsters, or an ordinary citizen," he said. "Both, democracy and our religion tell us to do that," he added.
Kazanhan was shot earlier in January during clashes that erupted between police and a group of masked men who organized an illegal demonstration and blocked a main street in Cizre.
