ANKARA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday pledged to continue fighting terrorism amid increased attacks on security forces which are blamed on Kurdistan Worker's Party, or PKK.
"We will continue our fight against terrorist organizations until the guns aimed at our state and citizens are laid down and buried," said Erdogan.
His remarks came during a ceremony at the Bestepe Presidential Palace held for the outgoing General Staff Chief Necdet Ozel whose tenure will end on Aug. 30. Ozel will be replaced by General Hulusi Akar.
"We will continue our struggle until terrorist organizations are buried in concrete and there is not even a single terrorist."
"We do not make any distinction between terrorist organizations; they are terror organizations for us regardless of their name, purpose, symbol or discourse," Erdogan said.
Police have been carrying out nationwide anti-terror operations to apprehend suspected militants of the PKK, Daesh, and far-left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) -- all three are designated terrorist groups in Turkey.
Since July 24, around 1,600 people have been arrested in the wave of counter-terrorism raids, amid a spike in attacks targeting security officers after the July 20 deadly suicide bombing in southeastern Suruc district that killed 32. The suicide bombing was blamed on Daesh.
'Solution process frozen'
The recent PKK attacks appeared to rattle a delicate cease-fire that brought relative calm to Turkey over the last two years after the Turkish government launched the "solution process" in 2013 when Erdogan was prime minister. The drive was aimed at ending a conflict spanning three decades that has resulted in the deaths of 40,000 people.
The president said the government had not viewed the "solution process as a process of legalizing or indulging the terrorist organization."
"Solution process is now in the freezer, because what is being done is pretty much clear," said Erdogan, referring to increased PKK attacks against security personnel across the country.
"The government viewed the process as an opportunity of solving issues through political ways; unfortunately, both the terrorist organization and its political party failed to take advantage of this chance," Erdogan said. The Turkish president has repeatedly accused pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democracy Party, or HDP, to act as the political wing of the PKK.
"Fighting terrorism is the main requirement of democracy and law, because these two cannot coexist with terrorism," Erdogan said.
