By Xinhua
Ankara : Turkish President Abdullah Gul vowed here Tuesday to eradicate terrorism, saying that democracy isolates terrorism and terrorists.
Gul told a meeting at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce that Turkey will definitely eradicate terrorism and there is no place to ethnic discrimination in Turkey.
“The more importance we attach to democracy, the more successful we will be,” he said, adding “all citizens living in this country are equal. They elect and be elected and they have the right to get appointed to every post.”
Gul’s remarks came as Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops near the border with Iraq in preparation for a cross-border operation to crush the northern Iraq-based 3,000-strong rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).
The PKK, listed by the United States, the European Union and Turkey as a terrorist group, took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has lasted more than two decades.