Turkish PM Says PKK Militants to 'Pay Price' for Damage in Southeast Turkey

Sputnik News

20:24 07.04.2017(updated 20:25 07.04.2017)

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants will "pay the price" for all the damage they have done in Turkey's southeastern Sirnak province, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The minister said the state would rebuild the destroyed districts.

"Who has been harmed by the PKK the most until today? It was you. It was Sirnak, Cizre, Idil and Silopi [districts]. They had dug trenches, burned down buildings, laid explosives, and martyred our police and our soldiers. These traitors will pay the price," Yildirim said at an opening ceremony in Sirnak as quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper.

Tensions between Ankara and the Kurds escalated in July 2015 when a ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK collapsed as a result of a series of terror attacks allegedly committed by PKK members. These actions prompted Turkish authorities to launch a military operation in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern regions of the country.

The PKK is listed as the terrorist organization in Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

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