site.btaErdogan Holds National Security Meeting in Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a national security meeting at Istanbul's Dolmabahce Palace on Saturday, the Presidency's Directorate of Communications said.

The head of State ordered the convocation of the meeting after Friday night's attack on a Turkish military base in Northern Iraq.

A total of nine Turkish soldiers were killed during the attack that was carried out by alleged Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants in the Metina area near the Turkish border, in the Operation Claw-Lock Zone.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Director Ibrahim Kalin, National Defence Minister Yasar Guler, the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, General Metin Gurak, the Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun and the President's Chief Foreign Policy and Security Adviser Akir Cagatay Kilif attended Saturday's national security meeting.

The Directorate of Communications said in a press release that the participants in the meeting discussed matters concerning counter-terrorism after the terrorist attack against Turkish military in Northern Iraq on Friday and the steps that will be taken in the context of the fight against terrorism.

According to the press release, 45 militants were neutralized after Friday's attack, of whom 36 in the north of Iraq and nine in northern Syria.

"We explicitly and unequivocally state that the Republic of Turkiye continues its fight against the terrorist organisation PKK/YPG/KCK and its supporters with determination and resolution within the framework of its strategy of blocking and eliminating threats to its survival at the source," the press release reads. "This struggle will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized and the terror reservoirs in Iraq and Syria are entirely wiped out."
 
"Turkiye will not consent to the establishment of a 'terrorististan' on its southern borders, regardless of the excuse or the justification," the Directorate said.

"No matter who is behind a terrorist threat, camp, shelter, formation, or cluster, our primary priority is to permanently destroy it within the framework of our right to self-defence and bilateral agreements. The separatist scoundrels who subcontract Turkiye's adversaries are and will be held accountable for each drop of blood they shed," the press release reads.
 
In response to the attack, protests against terrorism at large and against PKK in particular were staged in a number of cities in Southeastern Turkiye on Saturday afternoon.

A massive anti-terrorist operation was launched early Saturday morning in a total of 32 provinces, including Ankara, Antalya and in large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia.

Yerlikaya wrote on X that 113 terrorist suspects had been detained within the framework of the anti-terrorist crackdown codenamed Kahramanlar-41.

"We will carry on resolutely the fight against terrorism until the last terrorist has been neutralized," the Interior Minister wrote.

PKK has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Turkish State since 1984 and is treated as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the EU and the US. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. 

The PKK militants have bases in Northern Iraq and are active in Northern Syria.