‘Gara has fallen, job is done,’ says President Erdoğan

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the AKP's 7th Ordinary Provincial Congress in Turkey's Black Sea province of Trabzon today (February 16).

"We have been unable to come together with you due to the coronavirus outbreak," said Erdoğan, once again addressing a large crowd of people who did not observe their social distance amid pandemic.

Erdoğan talked about a series of current issues on Turkey's agenda, especially the country's military operation into Gare, a territory in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

CLICK - Erdoğan accuses the US and social media over 'Gare'

Making a statement on Sunday (February 14), Turkey's Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar announced that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) concluded its "Operation Claw Eagle-2" in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq's north.

The dead bodies of 13 soldiers and police officers, taken hostages and held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), were reportedly found during a search in a cave in the mountainous Gare area.

'Hey West, where are you?"

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) from Trabzon, Erdoğan "vowed in the coming days to expand military operations which showed progress to other regions where threats are still significant."

"Whichever hole they enter, we will find them there and we will bump them off," he reportedly said to the crowd. "We are fighting against a terrorist organization with a past full of massacres of children, women, the elderly, civilians from all walks of life, and that finally descended to the point of ruthless execution of unarmed people," he added.

"Gara was an important, troubled area and it fell, God willing; the job was done," Erdoğan said. Blaming the Western countries for being silent over the killing of 13 people in Gare, Erdoğan asked, "We could not see anyone except a few faint voices. Hey West, where are you?"

"We will stay as long as we need in the places we made secure to avoid similar attacks again," President Erdoğan said, adding that "what happened in Gara reinforced their idea of creating a safe area beyond Turkey's borders to protest the nation and the state." (AS/SD)