Minister Çiftçi: Our expectation from the international community is not to discriminate between terrorist organizations

According to the statement made by the Ministry, Minister Çiftçi attended the "Tripartite Ministerial Meeting" held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, where the Turkish-Belgian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Internal Affairs attended.

At the meeting, in addition to Çiftçi, the Turkish delegation included Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan and Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek, while the Belgian delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation Maxime Prevot, Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden, Minister of Security and Internal Affairs Bernard Quintin and Minister of Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt.

The first of the "Tripartite Ministerial Meeting" held between Türkiye and Belgium in the context of the fight against terrorism was held in Istanbul in October 2008, the second in Brussels in January 2013, and the third in Ankara on March 9, 2016.

The statement also included Minister Çiftçi's evaluations of the issues on the common agenda of the two countries at the meeting, including the fight against terrorism, the fight against the new generation and organized crime organizations, and irregular migration.

"COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERROR"

Pointing out the importance of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Minister Çiftçi said, "Our expectation from the international community and our friends is that there will be no discrimination between terrorist organizations and that none of them will be tolerated. For this reason, no country should allow its own territory to become a safe area for terrorist organizations operating against another country." he said.

Minister Çiftçi said, "Thanks to our years-long determined struggle, the PKK has decided to disarm and dissolve itself. With the law adopted in our Parliament, the Terror-Free Turkey process has begun. However, permanent success in the fight against terrorism can only be achieved with strong international cooperation." expressed his opinion.

Referring to the activities of terrorist organizations in Belgium, Minister Çiftçi emphasized that it is important not to repeat the negativities experienced in the past.

Çiftçi stated that they expect concrete steps from Belgium in the fight against terrorism and said, "We especially demand the closure of organizations supporting and affiliated with PKK and FETO and a positive response to our extradition requests." he said.

Speaking about the fight against FETO, Çiftçi continued as follows:

"Unfortunately, we see that this structure uses Belgium as a shelter. We believe that if the organization's schools and NGOs are closely monitored, many crimes such as fraud, bribery and bid rigging will be revealed. We also expect FETO members to be prevented from abusing the asylum system with fake information and documents."

Referring to the fight against DAESH, Çiftçi said, "Returning foreign terrorist fighters to their source countries is important for DAESH not to regain ground in the region. We are ready to support our interlocutors in this regard." he said.

"RETURN TO Türkiye"

Referring to the fight against new generation criminal organizations and organized crimes, Minister Çiftçi said that criminal organizations that effectively use the virtual world pose a great threat to international security.

Emphasizing the importance of judicial cooperation in the fight against organized crime organizations, Minister Çiftçi said:

"We can carry out similar successful operations as we carried out in Türkiye together with our Ministry of Justice, by establishing cooperation with our Belgian counterparts. We think that in order to achieve a successful result in the fight against these organizations, there should be a close cooperation between our Ministries of Justice and Interpol units on the extradition of criminals."

Minister Çiftçi also expressed his demands for the managers and members of the organized crime group, who are considered to be in Belgium, to be captured and extradited to Türkiye.

"PREVENTION OF IRREGULAR MIGRATION AT THE SOURCE"

Stating that comprehensive studies have been carried out to prevent irregular migration at its source and neutralize migrant smuggling networks, Çiftçi stated that the irregular migration flow has been largely prevented with the measures taken on land and at sea, and that Türkiye has made significant progress towards ceasing to be a target and transit country.

Drawing attention to the importance of international cooperation and fair burden sharing in the struggle, Çiftçi emphasized that cooperation with European Union countries should be increased, voluntary returns should be supported and resettlement quotas should be increased.

Minister Çiftçi noted that permanent success in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and irregular migration can only be achieved with sincere solidarity and cooperation between countries.