Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Friday that Turkey would not give any concessions from security or freedoms in its fight against terror.
"Just as we will not give any concessions from security in the name of freedoms, we will not give any concessions from freedoms in the name of security," Ali Babacan said at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart Maxime Verhagen in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
A Turkish counter-terrorism board of government officials and senior military figures convened on Thursday to discuss those measures and the board is expected to convene again on Tuesday.
"We will continue to work on this issue with an eye to the standards of the European Union as well as what is best for Turkish people," Babacan said.
Verhagen, for his part, said that the Netherlands had condemned the terrorist attacks in Turkey.
"I have offered my condolences to my counterpart over the latest terrorist attacks," Verhagen said.
On Wednesday, Turkish parliament approved a motion to extend by one year the government's mandate to carry out cross-border operations against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebel activities from northern Iraq.
The anger of the Turkish people is mounting after last Friday's deadly attack that killed 17 Turkish soldiers in Hakkari province in southeastern Turkey and Wednesday's deadly attack that killed five people including four police officers in Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey.
The Erdogan government and the powerful military have pledged to intensify a campaign to crush the outlawed PKK, which is branded by Turkey, the United States and the European Union as a terrorist group.
The PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in the over-two-decade conflict.
Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected positions of the PKK in northern Iraq. In February this year, it also launched an eight-day cross-border ground incursion against PKK rebels.
Source: Xinhua
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