Turkey fighting independence war

Ninety-three years since the foundation of the modern Turkish republic, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in his new year's address that the country is fighting a "new war of independence."
"National unity, territorial integrity, institutions, the economy, foreign policy, in short all of the elements that sustain us as a state are under fierce attack," Erdogan said on Saturday.
"Terrorist organisations are only the visible faces and tools in this war. We are essentially fighting the powers behind these organisations," he said, without specifying what those powers where.
Erdogan also dubbed the attempted coup d'etat in July as "the most abominable terrorist attack" in the history of the republic.
"Turkey has succeeded in arising from this catastrophe and making a new beginning," he said.
Erdogan has consistently blamed the movement of US-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen for the failed coup. More than 40,000 people have been arrested in the post-coup crackdown and tens of thousands of civil servants have also lost their jobs as a result.
In addition to the "cleansing" of state institutions, Erdogan vowed in his new year's message that "these cancer cells" would be wiped out at every level of society.
The president committed the population to a long campaign, but he said he was confident the will of the nation was strong enough for the fight.
He finally expressed the hope that 2017 would bring Turkey, the region and the world security, peace, happiness and prosperity.