'Turkey to teach terrorists a lesson'

ANKARA

Turkey will teach terrorists a lesson sooner or later, Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Wednesday.

“Although the heinous attacks of the PKK terrorist organization which martyred two Turkish road construction workers in Hakkari and two hero soldiers in Tunceli hurt us, the terrorists will learn their lessons sooner or later,” Altun said on Twitter.

Altun said Turkey neutralized the perpetrators of the February 2016 Ankara bombings and had recently arrested one of the suspects of the December 2016 terrorist attack outside a football stadium in Istanbul.

The deadly Ankara blast occurred during the evening rush hour on Merasim Street, which connects Dikmen Street to Inonu Boulevard, close to the Turkish General Staff and parliament buildings.

The attack, which killed 29 people, led to the arrest of 15 suspects.

The December 2016 twin attacks in Istanbul -- one by a bomb-laden car and the other by a suicide bomber -- targeted riot police near Vodafone Park stadium in Besiktas district after a Turkish football league match, killing 46 people and leaving 243 others injured.

Altun added that so far, Turkish security forces had neutralized 45 terrorists in northern Iraq as part of its ongoing Operation Claw, which began on May 27 in the Hakurk region.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including many women and children.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar