Türkiye to continue fighting terrorism until threat over: President

ANKARA

Türkiye will continue fighting terrorism within its borders and beyond until the threat is eliminated, the nation’s president said on Thursday.

"We will continue this struggle inside and outside the borders until the terrorist threat to our country is completely over," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a Teachers’ Day address in the capital Ankara.

Erdogan said the Turkish Armed Forces has been destroying terror nests in operations carried out in both northern Iraq and Syria, near the Turkish border.

"Wherever there are terrorists, the security organization of this state will be there with its police, military, and security forces," he added.

Early on Sunday, Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Sword, a cross-border aerial campaign against the terror group PKK/YPG, which has illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan and sometimes execute attacks on Turkish soil.

Turkish officials stressed that the operation is in line with international law and the nation’s right to self-defense under UN resolutions.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the terror group's Syrian offshoot.