Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, speaking at the opening ceremony for the start of the new academic year at a university in Izmir, said, “If we had not increased our defence industry from 20% to 80% at the beginning of the 21st century at the behest of [President] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, then the people in our border regions, from Afrin to the Kandil Mountains, and Tell Abyad (Gırê Spî) to Ras al-Ayn (Serekanîye), would be living lives imprisoned by missiles and bombs.”
Soylu said “There has been a change in concept in Turkey’s struggle with terrorism, and the PKK’s (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) sphere of influence has been made smaller since 15 July”.
He also remarked that though there had been objections to the trustees appointed to the municipalities in place of the elected mayors in the region, he alleged that the infrastructure of Diyarbakır’s district towns were better than that of other towns in Anatolia.
“The PKK is a women’s organisation, and I cannot emphasise this too strongly. It has its own sociology and philosophy on the basis of its character as a women’s organisation”, he said, presumably referring to Abdullah Öcalan’s internationally renowned Jinealogy (Science of Women), a part of his model of democratic confederalism.
Soylu continued: “We have demonstrated a mentality of engagement not just of the struggle with terror, but of the struggle with terrorism. As a result of that, we have started a new mission against the PKK. We have decided that on 29 October 2023 there will be not one single terrorist left in Turkey. We are giving our all for this.”
