Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Sunday that Turkey's peace operations will continue until all armed PKK members leave the country and weapons become silent.
“Turkey's principles for disarmament are clear. That's what the withdrawing of armed PKK elements from the country and their laying down arms is," Davutoğlu told press members at a reception, which marked the 93rd anniversary of the country's Victory Day. "We would not give up operations until a public order will be ensured."
The prime minister also noted that his government's main principles for sustainable were clear. "Calls made for peace do not mean anything while armed PKK elements are still existed in Turkey. Those who want peace shall surrender the weapons," he said when recalled pro-Kurdish HDP Party's recent call on PKK to lay down arms.
“They will either leave their weapons with their own will or security forces will take every kind of measure.”
He also said security measures and policies had nothing to do with impacting election results. “Turkey's security is more important than everything," he added.
Operations against the PKK -- listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and U.S. -- began after the outlawed organisation resumed attacks on Turkish security forces following suicide bombing in Suruc. More than 60 members of the Turkish security forces have been slained while over 900 PKK terrorists have been killed in the strikes in Turkey and northern Iraq.
Turkey insists on a full PKK withdrawal for peace talks to progress, while PKK leaders in Qandil accuse Turkish authorities of failing to take steps for solving the Kurdish questions in the country. If PKK accepts to end the armed struggle, all armed PKK members will withdraw from Turkey.
PKK terrorists, based on the Qandil Mountain, will have a chance to return home if they decide to leave where they live. If a permanent agreement is reached with Kurds, it will bring an end to a 30-year-old struggle, which has claimed over 40,000 lives.
On his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the government would ensure a high level of election security in the Nov. 1 re-run of the general election.
“I believe our government, together with the armed forces and the Interior Ministry, will overcome [the election process] with minimum damage by taking all measures," he said during the reception which was held in the presidential palace in Ankara.
A fresh voting in Turkey will be held nearly five months after an inconclusive election on June 7 saw no party win an overall majority in parliament. The ensuing coalition talks ended without a government. The announcement for a new round of polling came after Erdoğan called a snap general election last Monday.
Touching on pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party's recent calls on the Kurdistan Workers' Party to drop arms, the president said that he did not think the HDP was sincere. “You know that these [calls] were made before June 7 [elections] as well," he said.
“The perpetrators behind a recent rise in terrorist attacks will pay the price."
The Victory Day marks a great victory which the Turkish Army won against Greek troops in the final battle of the modern Republic's War of Independence.
The celebrations come after Turkish war planes launched the first strikes as part of the US-led coalition against the targets, belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in Syria.
