Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoganThinkstock

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said his country will continue to fight terrorism and its backers "till the end", in a statement issued hours after the shooting attack on a nightclub in Istanbul in which 39 people were killed.

Erdogan said the "vicious attack" in Istanbul clearly showed that terror does not discriminate but "aims to hurt and kill", reported the Anadolu news agency.

"Turkey is firm on doing whatever it takes to protect its citizens' safety and peace in the region," the president added. "Turkey will stand together and not give passage to dirty games of terrorists."

Erdogan said that those who attack people's peace aim to "create chaos."

"I offer my condolences to our citizens', to our foreign guests' and to our security officer's families and wish a speedy recovery to those injured," Erdogan said. "We are dedicated to eradicate attacks and threats to our country."

Among the 39 people killed in the attack was Lian Zaher Nassar, a 19-year old resident of the Israeli Arab town of Tira, located in the concentration of Arab towns and villages in central Israel known as the Triangle.

Nassar’s friend, Rawa Mansour, suffered moderate injuries in the attack. She was flown in from Turkey to Israel on Sunday evening and was taken for treatment at a hospital.

The attack in Istanbul came three weeks after two explosions outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul killed 29 people and wounded 166.

In July, an attack on the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul left 45 people dead, including 19 foreigners.

No group has claimed responsibility for the New Year’s Eve attack, but Turkish authorities characterized the attack as a terrorist act.