Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu pointed out that the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) provides intelligence and support to other terrorist groups such as the PKK and Daesh. "I would like to say that state institutions have been completely cleared of FETÖ elements, however, it is not yet possible to claim this. We are still at the surface . If you knew what we know about FETÖ, you would understand that sleeping more than two-to-three hours [a day] is a luxury for us," he said.

Soylu, speaking at the 9th Ambassadors Conference, gave examples of collaborations between FETÖ, the PKK and Daesh. Indicating that the state is in a fight with FETÖ, Soylu underlined that the terror cult is a totally different terrorist group and no European country has experienced such an attack on their current state structure - a fact that should be clearly conveyed to these countries.

Responding to the criticism that Ankara has been taking a hard line due to action to combat terrorism, Soylu asserted that with the disclosure of FETÖ's networks of relations which occurred in the last one month, Russian Ambassador to Ankara Andey Karlov's assassination has become more intriguing. Minister Soylu indicated that there are 110,000 associations in Turkey and, in accordance with the statutory decrees regarding FETÖ and the PKK, 158 FETÖ, 189 PKK, 20 Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and eight Daesh associations were closed down. "Each one of them was closed down due to their connections with terrorist organizations," Soylu said.

According to Minister Soylu, 5,826 operations were carried out in the last three months of 2016 and 805 terrorist shelters were destroyed, rendering them useless.

Underscoring the amount of money the drug market confiscated throughout PKK operations is TL 4 million ($1.065 million), Soylu said that it is predicted that the terrorist organization generates $1.5 million income annually from this market.