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Erdogan: Security Forces Can Never Lay Down Arms

25 June 2010 21:20 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkey’s prime minister said on Friday that Turkish security forces could never lay down their arms, APA reports quoting turkishny.com web-page.
Holding a press conference at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before leaving for Canada, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented on several NGO representatives’ remarks on the democratic move process during their meeting with Turkish President Abdullah Gul today.
Recalling some representatives’ remarks which stated that "democratic move could not be carried out under the shadow of weapons", Erdogan said, "What do they mean with these words? Who is asked to lay down arms? Do they mean Turkish security forces or the terrorist organization? Security forces can never put their weapons down".
Erdogan said security forces possessed weapons in order to provide public security and to prevent the attacks coming from out of the country.
"If the terrorist organization lays down arms, then our security forces will minimize the number of operations they conduct. Not a single security team wages an operation under normal circumstances. Establishing peace is the most important issue here," Erdogan said.
The Turkish prime minister also said that no concessions would be made regarding the democratic move process.
"We want our country’s unity and solidarity, and we want to achieve these goals through the democratic move process," Erdogan said.
Commenting on his visit to Canada as well, Erdogan noted that he would attend the 4th Leaders Summit of G-20 to be held in Toronto on June 26-27.
Erdogan said, in addition to the routine agenda, he would hold a meeting with the U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit.
Turkey’s premier said the G-20 summit would mainly focus on the global economic crisis, adding terrorism issue would also be brought up during the gathering.
"As a country that has severe problems concerning terrorism, we will have this issue on our agenda as well," Erdogan said.
Upon a question on his upcoming meeting with the U.S. president in Canada, Erdogan said it would not be appropriate to makea statement about the content of his talks at the moment, however, issues discussed during the gathering would be made public once he returned to Turkey.
Turkish State Minister & Deputy Premier Ali Babacan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek are accompanying Erdogan during his visit.
Erdogan and the accompanying delegation will return to Turkey on Monday.