President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated Türkiye's determination to protect its borders and ensure border security by eliminating all terrorist threats from its southern neighbors.
"Through successful cross-border operations, Türkiye clearly, unequivocally showed it will not allow any surgical attacks on its territory," President Erdoğan told reporters following a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara on Tuesday.
He noted that Türkiye hit 114 PKK/YPG terrorist targets in air operations in Syria and Iraq, killing 78 terrorists in the past 5 days, since the brutal terrorist attack targeted Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq.
The operations came after nine Turkish soldiers were killed in a clash on Friday with PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, where Türkiye has been conducting Operation Claw-Lock against the terrorists.
Attempts to fuel and strengthen the terrorist group PKK by providing it with weapons, ammunition, training, and shelters have gained momentum, he added.
"Our cross-border operations have also foiled plots aimed at dragging Türkiye into internal turmoil through a wave of irregular migration," he added.
"Since promises made to us are not being fulfilled, no one can object to Türkiye taking the necessary measures for its own security," Erdoğan stressed, referring to previous pledges to establish a buffer zone along its southern border.
The terrorist group stepped up its attacks on Turkish forces in Iraq, in particular, where it maintains hideouts in a mountainous territory in the north, near the Turkish border.
Türkiye battles the PKK terrorist group in northern Iraq and its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, in northern Syria, which constitutes a serious security threat to the country.
