Erdogan urges "national mobilisation against all terror groups"

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the country to mobilise against all terror groups after deadly attacks in Istanbul last week.

''I am calling on each citizen as the head of the state under Article 104 of the Constitution, I am urging the nation to mobilise against all terror groups," he said, while addressing local district officials in Ankara.

On Saturday, twin bombings near the Vodafone Arena in Besiktas, Istanbul, killed 44 people and injured over 150 others. The PKK's urban wing, TAK, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Turkey has faced a series of bombings carried out by Daesh, and the PKK and related groups this year. The country also weathered a coup attempt in July, which the government blamed on the Fetullah Terror Organisation (FETO).

"A total of 9,500 PKK terrorists have been killed, injured, or captured since the start of Turkey's anti-terror operations," Erdogan said. He added that 1,800 YPG and Daesh terrorists have also been killed since the launch in August of Operation Euphrates Shield to secure Turkey's borders with Syria.

Ankara considers the YPG a Syrian extension of the PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by the US, the EU, and Turkey.