BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Some advanced countries who support PKK terrorists are deliberately spreading “opportunistic misinformation” to undermine Turkey’s counter-terrorism efforts against the extremist group, Turkey’s Ambassador to Qatar told reporters in a press conference here today.
Some analysts believe that PKK, the Kurdish armed separatist group, is now fighting a common enemy, Daesh (Islamic State or IS) in Iraq and Syria, therefore it should not be weaken by using "disproportionate" force. But Turkey and most of its allies consider PKK an extremist group which has been involved in scores of terrorist activities, so deserves no sympathy.
Turkey has recently launched a massive attack against PKK and Daesh and vowed to eliminate every single terrorists from its soil.
“It should be noted that a terrorist organization cannot be cleared from its terrorist nature, just because it is fighting another terrorist organization,” said Ahmet Demirok, adding, “baseless propaganda by the PKK should not misguide the global public opinion.”
Demirok said: “There seems to be a misperception and shallow evaluation of the operations being carried out against exclusively PKK targets.”
According to a latest report attributed to German defence ministry sources, Kurdish forces in northern Iraq who are fighting IS militants, were allegedly attacked with chemical weapons a few days ago. However, the unnamed spokesperson at the ministry, did not say who was suspected of carrying out the attack.
Turkey’s military campaign, according to Demirok, has no relation with Kurdish origin people. It clearly targets camps and bases of the terrorist group.
The ambassador highlighted that Turkey has been very patient with PKK because of the “reconciliation process”, but the group has continued its terrorist attacks on public properties, police and security forces.
“Only in 2015, PKK had conducted around 2,173 terrorist attacks, which include gas and oil pipelines, trains, transport vehicles, construction machines and many other facilities,” he added.
“The unstable environment in Iraq and Syria makes it even more pressing for Turkey to take necessary precautions in order to prevent any adverse security impacts. Turkey has been indicating the direct and imminent threat from the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. Accordingly, the UN and NATO have been continuously informed about the incidents occurring along Turkish borders.”
On July 20, 2015, a suicide bomber attacked in the city of Suruç, killing 32 and wounding 104. Demirok also said that the attack was carried out by Daesh, and prior to this, it also attacked HDP meeting in Diyarbak?r.
“Right after two days of Suruç attack, PKK killed two police officers in their own apartment while they were sleeping,” he reiterated.
As a result, Turkey has started its fight against all the terrorists organizations.
“This is a war in multiple fronts, facing enemies with different backgrounds and ideologies. This is an effort requiring well-coordinated actions outside and inside Turkey. This also needs a greater level of international cooperation and solidarity,” he said.
The ambassador said that within the initial waves of operations targeting Daesh, 600 people were detained and 100 were arrested. The total number of the detainees in the last operations, suspected with Daesh links, is more than 130 and two of them were suspected to be suicide bombers. These operations will continue.
The Peninsula
