“Human rights and freedoms continue to expand despite terror. The terrorist organization is disturbed to see that people are freer now. They are disturbed by the compassionate hand of the state. Recent attacks have revealed the real objective of the terrorist group. My nation sees everything. My people see what purpose the terrorist group serves. They see that terrorists are working to curb the democratization movement in Turkey,” he remarked on Tuesday during his Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary group meeting.
Turkey has recently been rocked by a rise in the number of terrorist attacks perpetrated by the terrorist PKK. The terrorist group recently lifted its unilateral cease-fire against Turkish security forces. Most observers believe the real aim of the bloody attacks is to psychologically force people to vote against the government’s constitutional reform package in the referendum scheduled for Sept. 12 of this year.
Erdoğan also slammed the PKK’s collaborators in the country, saying they share the same responsibility as the terrorists. By saying “collaborators” he was implicitly referring to the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which has refused to call the PKK a terrorist organization despite heavy political pressure.
“Acts of terror have no conscience. Seeking to accumulate [political] gain from terrorist attacks will not bring peace to the country. Peace will not arrive by solely saying that we want peace. Those who have direct or indirect links to the PKK will not bring peace. They will share the responsibility for murder,” the prime minister added.
