Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday vowed to continue the country's resolve in fighting against terrorism.
"We will continue our struggle against terrorism with the same determination. The sacrifices our martyrs and veterans have made will not go in vain," Erdoğan told a meeting at the Presidential Complex hosted by the Directorate General of Religious Affairs as part of Mosques and Religious Officials Week.
Erdoğan's remarks followed a terrorist attack early on Thursday morning that martyred seven Turkish soldiers and wounded 2 others in the southeastern Batman province.
The terrorists detonated an improvised explosive device planted as an armored military vehicle passed by.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terror organization carries on its drug cultivation and trafficking activities in the regions it occupies in Syria under the watchful eye of the U.S. after seizing thousands of hectares of farmlands in Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir Ezzor.PKK recruits addictsU.S.-PKK-occupied Raqqa, which boasts 120 hectares of farmlands, has become an integral part of a special project to promote the use and sale of drugs, which are found in markets, stationery stores and pharmacies across Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, Hasakah and Tal Abyad.Raqqa resident Anwar Rushdi, who spoke exclusive to Yeni Şafak daily, said the PKK terror group uses drugs as a means to get fighters to join its ranks.“First they turn them into addicts, then they recruit them in PKK ranks,” continued Rushdi.The PKK/YPG controls an area of about 53,000 square kilometers with a percentage of 28.6 of Syrian territory.'Manbij roadmap should be implemented soon'Ex-terrorists narrate how PKK recruits childrenFields under U.S. protection According to Rushdi, cannabis was planted in PYD-occupied areas that included thousands of acres of land that provided the bulk of agriculture in pre-war in Syria. “There are four large drug farms that no one has access to in close proximity to U.S. bases in Raqqa, Hasakah and Tal Abyad in Dimashqiyyeh, Ali Bajeeriyeh and Mazraat al-Rabia. Sometimes, U.S.-armored vehicles go there and stay for a while with PKK terrorists,” continued Rushdi.The U.S. has also has supplied the PYD terror organization and its armed wing, the YPG, with thousands of truckloads of weapons to allegedly use in the fight against Daesh, despite Ankara’s warnings that the fact they are the Syrian offshoots of the PKK terror organization.PKK terrorist oversees traffickingAccording to Raqqa-based lawyer Muhammad Saeed, a PKK terrorist from Ayn al-Arab who operates under the codename “Roni” became in charge of the terror group’s drug industry in 2017. “He was first dispatched to Tal Abyad and then to Raqqa. They are devoting special efforts to spread this poison among Arab and Turkmen populations in FSA-controlled regions. They ship them through the Manbij- Jarabulus route,” said Saeed.Wanted PKK terrorist ‘neutralized’ in southeast TurkeyOperations based in Raqqa After seizing close to 120 hectares of arable lands between 2012- 2017, the PKK turned Afrin into the Middle East’s biggest drug cultivation and trading region, according to Rushdi. “After Operation Olive Branch, a number of drug traffickers fled to Tal Abyad and Hasakah, but the majority resettled in Raqqa. Dozens of businesses in the city’s industrial zone were turned into of drug factories. Raqqa became the new center of drug cultivation and trafficking to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, and Gulf and European countries,” continued Rushdi. The Turkish military cleared a 2,500 square mile (4,000 square kilometer) area from Daesh and YPG/PKK terrorists as part of the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in Syria.The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.Backing from a Lebanese drug lord According to Saeed, Lebanese drug lord Nouh Zaieter is providing logistical support to the Raqqa-based drug trade. A part of the drug shipments are trafficked to Lebanon through the Raqqa- Salamiyyeh- Hom- Qusayr route, from where it’s sold to other Arab and European countries. “Another drug export channel for the PKK is the Latakia- Tartous route operated by terrorist Mihraç Ural.” “Two of the big partners in the 15-year drug trade along the Latakia-Tartous route are President Bashar al-Assad’s cousins Rami and Hafez Makhlouf,” concluded Saeed.
PKK turns Syria into drug farm under US protection
A wanted PKK terrorist was among the terrorists “neutralized” in an operation carried out in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province on Sept. 6, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday.Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the terrorist with a codename Cuma Mardin was “neutralized” in an airstrike in Nusaybin district.The terrorist was in the red category of the ministry's wanted terrorists, the statement added.The Interior Ministry's wanted list is divided into five color-coded categories, with red as the most wanted, followed by blue, green, orange and gray.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.Seven Turkish soldiers martyred in PKK terror attackEx-terrorists narrate how PKK recruits children
Wanted PKK terrorist ‘neutralized’ in southeast Turkey
False beliefs about Islam must be dispelled
False beliefs about Islam must be dispelled, in part to fight exploitation by terrorist groups based on false faith, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also said at Thursday's meeting.
"It is my personal duty to encourage open discussion of all questions related to religion and mosques in this country," Erdoğan said.
"Mosques are places where Muslims gather, [and] we will make that happen in our country. We will encourage our children and women to frequent mosques," Erdoğan said.
"Is there a verse or hadith [in the Quran] that bars women from going to mosques?” he asked rhetorically.
"I never heard of it or read such a thing. My tutors never taught me anything like that. These false beliefs must be dispelled."
"The reason why groups such as the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and Daesh could gain a foothold in a society is because there are spiritual gaps which our institutions fail to fill in," he added.