Türkiye has defeated attempts to spread sectarian incitement, which is covertly plaguing the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Monday.
Speaking at the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) iftar dinner, Erdoğan said: “Türkiye’s humanitarian richness is still our biggest source of power, resilience and confidence despite all regional and global plots.”
He underlined that the current situation was only achieved after 23 years of hard work to correct the century-old neglect and wrongdoings.
“Thank God; we have established an environment in which no segment of society in our country is marginalized because of their origin, belief, sect or disposition.”
The president’s words come after sectarian tensions have been running high in Syria’s mainly Alawite regions. Erdoğan previously accused the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of escalating tensions in Türkiye through attempts to pit Alawites against Sunnis.
The new Syrian administration managed to suppress attacks by the loyalists of the former regime that broke out in Syria's coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous.
Calling for a peaceful transitional period and an inclusive government, Ankara has led diplomatic efforts since Assad's fall to help Syria regain its normalcy and ensure stability in neighboring countries where developments directly affect Türkiye. Erdoğan has vowed to help the new Syrian administration form a state structure and a new constitution as the country looks to rebuild after 13 years of civil war.
“With our initiatives as the People’s Alliance to achieve a terror-free Türkiye, we took a brave step toward solving a scourge that has cost Türkiye 40 years, tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars,” the president continued on the other hand.
The PKK declared a "cease-fire" with Türkiye in late February, following a landmark call by its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan asking the group to disband and end more than four decades of terror.
After several meetings with Öcalan at his island prison, the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) relayed his appeal for the PKK to lay down its weapons and convene a congress to announce the organization's dissolution. Upon the call, the PKK announced a cease-fire.
After the last round of peace talks collapsed in 2015, no further contact was made with the PKK until October, when a nationalist ally of Erdoğan offered a surprise peace gesture if Öcalan rejected violence.
