ISTANBUL
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that Turkey viewed terrorist acts from the PKK and Daesh similarly.
Davutoglu was speaking at the NATO’s Military Committee conference in Istanbul late Saturday.
There should not be “any distinction between different terrorist organizations,” said Davutoglu. “We are very upset sometimes when we see some of our allies are making a distinction between Daesh and PKK terrorism.”
“No religious or cultural or national difference legitimizes any terrorist activities,” he added.
Turkey has seen a surge in violence since the PKK terrorist organization resumed its armed campaign at the end of July after an attack blamed on Daesh killed more than 30 people in southeastern Turkey.
Davutoglu said that Turkey had lost 113 security personnel, 58 civilians in recent attacks by terrorist groups. He added several hundreds of people had been injured.
“We have to stand shoulder to shoulder against any type of terrorism," he said. “We need your support especially of course in order to deal with (…) terrorist groups”
“In Turkey when you turn to the south, you see Syria and Iraq, to the north Ukraine, in the Caucasus a potential crisis in Georgia, in the Balkans, [there are] several risks, so you have to always be on alert,” he said.
“This is not only a threat to Turkey as a nation-state, but it is a threat to Europe and to NATO,” he added.
NATO officials gathered in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss regional security and challenges, as well as NATO’s current mission in Afghanistan and the Western Balkans, according to a NATO statement.
