President Erdoğan chairs security meeting
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chaired a security meeting at Dolmabahçe Presidential Office in Istanbul.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya, Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, Chief of General Staff Gen. Metin Gürak, Director of National Intelligence Organization İbrahim Kalın, Presidency’s Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun and Chief Foreign Policy and Security Advisor to the President Akif Çağatay Kılıç were present at the meeting.
The statement issued following the meeting reads: “During the meeting, our counter-terrorism strategies were evaluated in a holistic manner, and the treacherous terrorist attack organized yesterday in the Operation Claw-Lock Zone in the north of Iraq and the steps we have taken and will take in the context of the fight against terrorism were discussed.
We explicitly and unequivocally state that the Republic of Türkiye continues its fight against the terrorist organization PKK/YPG/KCK and its supporters with determination and resolution within the framework of its strategy of blocking and eliminating threats to its survival at the source. In the operations launched after the treacherous attack, a total of 45 terrorists—36 in the north of Iraq and 9 in northern Syria—were neutralized. This struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized and the terror reservoirs in Iraq and Syria are entirely wiped out. The terrorist separatist organization, which had nearly vanished within our borders, sustained severe losses as a result of our successful cross-border operations. There has been a surge in attempts to reinvigorate the terrorist organization since it has found itself in a precarious situation in Syria and Iraq.
The recent terrorist attacks that have targeted our troops operating outside of our borders are a sneaky part of the plans to strengthen the organization. Türkiye will not consent to the establishment of a ‘terrorististan’ on its southern borders, regardless of the excuse or the justification. No matter who is behind a terrorist threat, camp, shelter, formation, or cluster, our primary priority is to permanently destroy it within the framework of our right to self-defense and bilateral agreements. The separatist scoundrels who subcontract Türkiye's adversaries are and will be held accountable for each drop of blood they shed. We are resolved to thwart the plans of those who control the strings and those who serve as pawns in the traps laid to prevent us from achieving our goal of the Century of Türkiye. We wish Allah's mercy upon our soldiers who were martyred in the treacherous terrorist attack carried out yesterday in the Operation Claw-Lock zone in the north of Iraq. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and relatives of our martyrs, our Turkish Armed Forces and our beloved nation. We wish a speedy recovery to our soldiers who were injured in the attack and are still being treated.”
