ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that his bilateral meetings with leaders during his visit to Mexico and Brazil mainly focused on the crisis in Syria and developments in the Middle East.
Erdogan said on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting in Los Cabos, he had separate talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, discussing latest situation in Syria and developments in the Middle East.
Erdogan said the United Nations Rio+20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro had released a declaration which he said was an important gain in the light of an agreement on sustainable development targets.
Erdogan said he also met with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in his contacts during the Rio+20 summit.
Military operations end only when PKK lay down arms
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkish security forces will not stop conducting military operations unless the terrorist PKK organization lay down arms.
"Security forces carry out operations only when it is necessary. And when weapons are laid down operations will certainly end," Erdogan told reporters in a press conference upon his arrival in the Turkish capital, Ankara, from a visit to Mexico and Brazil.
A latest terrorist attack on Tuesday on a military outpost in southeast Turkey killed 8 Turkish troops and wounded 16 others.
Erdogan also said Turkey would continue its struggle against terrorism with determination.
Responding to a question whether Syria shot down a Turkish military jet, which crashed Friday 8 miles away from the Syrian town of Latakia over the Mediterranean Sea, and then apologized, Erdogan said he had no "definite information" to affirm that the jet was shot down or Syria had apologized.
Erdogan also said Turkish sources had no information that the two pilots of the crashed jet was taken hostage by Syrian forces.
Erdogan said that four Turkish gunboats were conducting a joint search and rescue mission with Syrian gunboats in the area, adding that the crash was also set to be discussed in a security meeting on Friday.
Turkish premier returns to Turkey
ISTANBUL
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday returned to Turkey after concluding his talks in Brazil.
Erdogan participated in a summit meeting of the Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro.
Prior to his stay in Brazil, Erdogan participated in the G20 summit meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico.
Erdogan met with US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
