Erdoğan dismisses 'chemical attack' claims

Photo: AA

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected the allegations that Türkiye was involved in chemical warfare in its military operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq's Kurdistan region.

"The Turkish Armed Forces do not have faults such as using chemical weapons," he told reporters today (October 21) on the presidential plane, returning from his visit to Azerbaijan.

Türkiye has taken "all steps in the framework of international law and will continue to do so," he asserted.

Erdoğan said that those bringing up the claims were now being prosecuted. "We will certainly follow up. Entering both action for compensation and criminal action we will give them a hard time."

Calling the allegations "slander," Erdoğan went on to say, "These people are impertinent, they are immoral. Throw enough mud, and some will stick, they think. This is the watchword of communism, the most important slogan of the communists. Since these people are the leftovers of them, they will always slander as such. So we will bring them to book within the legal framework doing what is necessary."

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The "PKK children" statement

Erdoğan also responded to a question about his statement during the last parliamentary group meeting of his party where he told an MP joining his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to have more children as "PKK had 5, 10, 15 children."

Asked as if he meant "Kurds" when he said PKK, the president said, "I always say 'three children,' openly. It is not a secret policy of mine. I never hide this. What I am saying there is again very clear but they will not stop exploiting. It is not necessary to try to catch up on their exploitation."

The opposition had accused Erdoan of "racism" and "equating the Kurds with the PKK" because of his remarks. (RT/PE/VK)