Efes-2024 exercise based on peacekeeping, no country targeted — Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the Turkish military's ongoing Efes-2024 drill does not target any country, but is based on peacekeeping.

“No country is targeted within the scope of the Efes-2024 drill, it is an exercise based on peacekeeping,” Erdogan said on Thursday in an address to the military during the exercise in western Izmir province.

"We have the opportunity to use the new domestic systems that have entered the inventory in the Efes-2024 exercise," he added, further stating that 33 new systems will be tested for the first time.

The president also highlighted the expansion of Türkiye's defence sector.

"Last year, we reached $5.5 billion in defence exports with 230 types of products sent to 185 countries and we signed new contracts worth $10.24 billion," he said.

Erdogan also emphasised that Türkiye is conducting intense diplomacy.

"We have taken many important steps (in diplomacy) to increase the number of our friends. Hopefully, we will continue on this path with new initiatives," Erdogan added.

Erdogan said Türkiye is ready to establish dialogue and strengthen ties with any actor who respects Türkiye's interests and wants to develop cooperation.

"There is no justification for such brutality"

The president also touched upon the presence of the PKK terrorist group in the north of Syria and Iraq.

"Türkiye will never allow the (PKK) separatist organisation to establish a terrorist state in the north of Syria and Iraq, just beyond its southern borders," he said.

Erdogan further added that Ankara "closely monitors" PKK's "aggressive actions against the territorial integrity of Türkiye and Syria under the pretext of a referendum."

The president also mentioned Israel's ongoing aggression in Gaza, blasting the embattled Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu's government for an attack on a refugee camp last Sunday in Rafah that killed at least 45 people, mostly women and children.

"It was the end of humanity, there is no justification for such brutality," he said regarding the attack.