ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that there was no single country in the world that solved the issue of terrorism, adding that it had been never possible to take a hundred percent result and it would not be possible from now on.
Holding a press conference at Parliament, Erdogan replied to questions of reporters regarding attacks in Istanbul.
When asked whether Al Qaida or an international organization was linked with the incidents, Erdogan said that the explosions occurred today were resembling completely to the attacks launched five days ago. He added that security departments were continuing studies and they would have the chance to make statement after the studies.
When asked whether Turkey would launch an initiative about an international cooperation against terrorism, Erdogan said that Turkey had cooperation agreements with 49 countries and those cooperations would continue. He added that delegations from Israel came to Turkey after the attacks against two synagogues and security departments and intelligence organizations were jointly continuing their studies after explosions occurred today.
When a reporter said that Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal said in his speech that the government has reached a fragile point in foreign policy and he criticized the government as it did not make statements after attacks, Erdogan said that they were not in an effort to make profit by making the incident a political polemic matter, adding that they started their activities in the morning within a seriousness of a state and government spokesman addressed international society and Turkey and then made a speech at Parliament.
Erdogan said that he was issuing his statement after getting sound information about the blasts in Istanbul.
When asked if the terrorist activities could be prevented before their occurrence by getting information earlier from intelligence units, Erdogan said that security units evaluated the information they received in the ideal way.
''Our intelligence organization conveyed the information it received to 81 provinces immediately and necessary measures were taken. Terrorism does not have a specific address. We don't know when, what, where and how terrorism will hit the targets. Can you show me one country who sorted out terrorism problem? No, there is not. This is not an ordinary crime, it is an act of terrorism,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan referred to the clash of security forces with 15 terrorists in eastern Bingol province last night and the results it got from the operation they had in Hatay. Noting that security organization did its best and they paid the price of that, Erdogan said ''today, two policemen died in blasts. Why don't we talk about it? We must evaluate them well. There are certainly shortcomings and they will be overcome. We launch efforts to this end. If you want to get a result by 100 percent, this is not possible.''
''Will additional measures be taken after the incidents? Is there any harmony problem among intelligence organizations?'' asked journalists to Erdogan who said that they worked together with the concerned units.
''At the moment, intelligence organizations, MIT and Security Directorate are working together. The flow of information is good. I believe that they will get a result as soon as possible,'' he said.
(GC-ÖŞ-AÖ) 20.11.2003