Interior minister promises to end PKK in 2020

Duvar English

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has promised to end the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 2020, as he added that the resources allocated to the "fight against terror" will be used for development.

"We promise to you, this terrorist organization won't exist in 2020," Soylu said in a speech he made in the eastern province of Muş, adding that the people will be relieved when the PKK no longer exists.

"Leave the fight against terror to us. We've been dealing with this issue for the past 40 years. Our children have gone wasted in these years. We will use the resources allocated to this to development," he also said, referring to Turkey's fight against the PKK that has been ongoing for more than three decades.

The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.

Saying that the PKK won't be a problem left for the future generations, Soylu noted that the country's east and southeast "found itself via being cleared of terrorism and terrorists."

This is not the first time Soylu said that the PKK will be brought to an end. In the final days of 2016, the minister said that the PKK would be done with by April 2017.

"They will be faced with a massive destruction that they can't even imagine," he said in 2016.