Turkey determined to continue its fight against terrorism, Erdoğan says

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that Turkey will proceed in its fight against terrorism with determination, during a speech in western Balıkesir province, following an attack blamed on the terrorist organization PKK in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

President of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, Tahir Elçi, and a police officer died after gunfire erupted in the Sur district.

"I learned that Mr. Tahir Elçi and one Turkish police officer were just killed in an attack." Erdoğan said and added: "Additionally, some other police officers and journalists were injured."

"May Allah have mercy on Mr. Elçi and our martyred police," Erdoğan added.

Erdoğan also said that Turkey was right to continue fighting against the terrorist organization PKK.

"This incident shows that Turkey is right to fight terrorism. We will proceed to fight against terrorism with determination."

According to Turkish security sources, Elçi had been making a statement to the media about the historic Dort Ayakli Minare mosque, damaged by the PKK in October.

PKK terrorists and Turkish security forces traded fire, as people fled the scene.

Syrian people suffer under Assad regime, Daesh

The Turkish president was speaking at the opening of an education complex.

Addressing a crowd, Erdoğan said that Syrian people were suffering under the [Bashar] Assad regime and Daesh, as well as other terror organizations. Erdoğan said that it was "natural" for Turkey to be interested in developments in the war-torn country.

"There is no difference between the Assad regime and the PYD [or] YPG terror organizations..." Erdoğan said, including the Al Nusra Front rebel group among these.

YPG is the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish rebel group the People's Democratic Union (PYD), which is affiliated to the PKK.

'Turkey is an important country for Russia'

On the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey on Tuesday, Erdoğan repeated his willingness to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris during an upcoming major summit on climate change in the French capital.

"We should not forget that Turkey is an important country for Russia as Russia is an important country for Turkey," Erdoğan highlighted.

"We are eager and hopeful on this issue [mending relations]," he added.

Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets on aerial patrol intercepted an unidentified warplane on Tuesday after it intruded into Turkish airspace on the Syria border.

The intruding aircraft was warned about the violation 10 times within five minutes before it was shot down.

Russia's Defense Ministry later announced that one of its SU-24s had been shot down. It crashed in the Syrian region of Bayirbucak, close to the Yayladagi district of southern Turkey.