“After the events in Gezi (protests in Istanbul in 2013 that turned into violent clashes with the police), Turkey has been facing a number of developments that have led to the reduction of investments. The pandemic added to that. We have been facing the biggest wave of migrants and it may have different costs. The US wants to create a terrorist state near us. We are taking precautions,” Soylu told the CNN Turk broadcaster.
The minister added that Turkey had been fighting against a terrorist threat for over 40 years, but the risk of the establishment of a terrorist state still exists as long as the US is actively involved in the region.
Last year, Soylu stated that Ankara did not accept the US Embassy’s condolences in connection with the deadly terrorist attack in central Istanbul, which claimed the lives of six people. In February, the Turkish minister ordered the US ambassador to Ankara, “take your dirty hands” off the country, accusing him of trying to “provoke” Turkey following the US warnings about possible terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
Turkish officials have repeatedly criticized the US for arming Kurdish rebels in northern Syria, near the Turkish and Iraqi borders. Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey are all home to large Kurdish populations that have been vying for an independent Kurdish state in the territories that they inhabit. Ankara has been in conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which it considers terrorist, since 1984 and resumed active operations against the Kurdish forces in 2015.
