Turkish president says time for peace talks with PKK over

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to continue operations against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, saying there remains no room for peace talks with the militant group.

Erdogan said in a speech in the capital, Ankara, on Monday that PKK militants should either surrender or they will be “neutralized” by Turkish security forces.

The PKK abandoned a ceasefire with Ankara in July 2015, about two years after it was clinched between both sides to end a conflict that has killed 40,000 people since 1984.

Turkey has been involved in a large-scale campaign against the PKK since last July in the country’s southern border region. It has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq.

According to government figures, some 400 Turkish soldiers and police officers were killed in the operations. Opposition political parties say between 500 and 1,000 civilians were also killed.

Erdogan also condemned the West for teaching Ankara “lessons in democracy” after the United States and the European Union criticized the country’s crackdown on freedom of expression.

SS