Turkey fights terrorism at home, abroad: Defense spox.

Turkey maintains its counter-terrorism efforts inside and beyond its borders, a National Defense Ministry official said on Tuesday.

Nadide Şebnem Aktop, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman, reaffirmed Turkey's resolute fight against terrorism, especially against FETO/PDY, PKK/KCK/YPG and Daesh terrorist groups, both at home and abroad, in a news conference in the capital Ankara.

Aktop said some 56 PKK/KCK terrorists were neutralized during anti-terror operations in Turkey and northern Iraq over the last three weeks.

On the fight against Fetullah Terrorist Organization, the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, Aktop said over 1,000 personnel were suspended past seven months for their affiliation with the terror group.

Some 310,000 Syrians returned home, cleared of terrorists after Turkey's seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield ending in March 2017, in northern Syria, she added.

Aktop also said over 4,500 terrorists were neutralized in Turkey's Operation Olive Branch, launched to rid Afrin, northwestern Syrian city, of YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists.

The official stressed that Turkey responds to the attacks from Tal Rifat region, northern Syria, in line with the legitimate right of self-defense.