02 February 2016•Update: 02 February 2016
ISTANBUL
Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
Tuesday’s newspapers mainly covered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks regarding the government's ongoing anti-terrorist operations against the PKK in southeastern Turkey.
"Peace will come after hard times," was HABERTURK and SABAH's headline, both quoting Erdogan who was speaking with journalists during a visit to Chile.
According to HABERTURK, Erdogan talked positively about the operations: "The process [anti-PKK operations] is going well. People in the region want to be ensured of their security. They say ‘please, stick with the operations and continue resolutely'," the president was reported as saying.
AKSAM wrote that Erdogan also criticized deputies from Turkey’s Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for what he termed abusing parliament for the sake of terror.
"Deputies’ immunity should not be exploited," Erdogan said, the paper reported, a reference to Turkish MPs’ immunity from prosecution.
The PKK -- designated a terrorist organization also by the U.S. and the EU -- renewed its armed campaign against the Turkish state in late July. Since then, more than 250 members of the security forces have been martyred.
In other news, Turkish dailies also covered the killings of five soldiers in clashes with the terrorist PKK in the Sur district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
"Five soldiers martyred in Sur," was CUMHURIYET's headline on a story reporting that the clashes also injured one soldier and three policemen.
Sur, along with the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Sirnak, are among areas that have been the focus of counter-terror operations and military curfews since early December 2015.
Turkish security forces have killed more than 600 PKK terrorists in total in the two districts since counter-terror operations began, according to the Turkish General Staff.
In economic news, financial newspaper DUNYA covered the sharp decline of Turkish exports, which totaled $140 billion in the past 12 months, 9.8 percent lower compared to last year.
The paper said the export rates also fell to under $10 billion in January, decreasing 14 percent.
