THIS is with reference to your editorial, ‘Turkish crackdown’ (Feb 18).

No matter how great the challenges and threats it faces -- from the Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organization(FETO), the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the so-called Islamic State or other terrorist groups, Turkey resolutely acts in line with the principle of the rule of law and its international obligations.

The measures taken after the July 15 coup attempt were necessary to safeguard the democratic order against FETO, a very sinister and dangerous terrorist structure, which was already recognized as a terrorist organization by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA).

Despite the baseless claims by the Western media, legal rights of the affected persons are strictly protected. In this context, an inquiry commission has been established to specifically address the measures taken against civil servants after the July 15 terrorist coup attempt. The commission’s decisions are also open to judicial control. As a result of these efforts and detailed investigation, tens of thousands of civil servants who were initially suspected to be affiliated with the terrorist organizations were reinstated.

These measures cannot be considered an attack on the freedom of speech. Turkey has the right and the capacity to protect its people and the democratic order against terrorist organizations, which have claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Turkish civilians, civil servants and security officers in a futile aim to threaten its democracy or territorial integrity.

Terrorist propaganda is a major crime in many countries. Turkey is no exception to this general rule. Portraying these measures as authoritarian tendency is unfortunate. Turkey is committed to democracy and rule of law, while decisively continuing its fight against the terrorist organizations without discrimination.

Hsan Mustafa Yurdakul

Turkish Ambassador

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2018