The illegal Kurdish group, the PKK has declared a cessation of fire with Turkey after its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan asked the movement to put his arms and dissolve.
In a Saturday statement, the PKK said that he was waiting for Turkey to release Ocalan, who has been imprisoned in solitary prisoners since 1999, so he can lead a disarmament process.
He follows his call this week for four decades of armed struggle in southeastern Turkey, in which tens of thousands have been killed.
His announcement came months after Delet Bahceli, the leader of the Turkish ultranationalist party and an ally of the Turkish government, launched an initiative to end the conflict.
Ocalan, known as APO for Kurdish nationalists, met with the deputies of a Pro -Kurda party this week in Imrali, an island of the Marmara Sea, in the south -west of Istanbul, where he is imprisoned.
« In order to open the way for the implementation of the APO leader the call to peace and democratic society, we declare effective cessation from today, » said PKK’s executive committee in a statement on Saturday, quoted by the Pro-PKK Anf news agency.
« None of our forces will do armed actions unless they are attacked, » he added.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that military operations would resume against the PKK if « the promises given (by the group) do not remain » and the disarmament process stopped.
The PKK, which means the Kurdistan workers ‘workers’ party, said that OCALAN prison conditions must be relieved, adding that « it must be able to live and work in physical freedom and to be able to establish unrestricted relationships with anyone who wants, including their friends. »
The group has been making an insurgency since 1984, with the aim of cutting a homeland for Kurds, representing about 20% of the 85 million people in Turkey. It is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Asking for disarmament, he had Ocalan resorted to PKK members in a letter Read the members of the Demet Party Ahmet Turk and Pivin Buldan in both Kurdish and Turkish.
He said that « all groups have to put their arms and that the PKK must be dissolved », adding that their movement was formed mainly because « the channels of democratic politics were closed. »
However, Bahceli, endorsed by the positive signs of Erdogan and other political parties, had created the right environment for the PKK to put his arms, added Ocalan.
Kurdish leaders largely welcomed development. Local reports said thousands of people met to see the statement on the big screens of the Diyarbakir cities and go to the predominantly Kurdish southeast.
However, significant issues are maintained between the Kurdish and Turkish public about what could be the next steps, and not everyone was convinced that things would change.
Last week, PKK’s lead commander, Duran Kalkan, said the governing party of Turkey, the AKP, was not looking for a solution, but to « take over, destroy and annihilate. »
Turkish support forces in northeastern Syria have intensified their campaign against the Kurdish forces and last month asked the new Syria leaders to eliminate Syrian Democrats forces led by Kurds.
Pro-Kurds politicians have been objective for a wave of arrests and prison sentences in recent years.
About 40,000 people have died since the PKK insurgency began.
There was an increase in violence in southeastern Turkey from 2015 to 2017, when a cessation of two and a half fire was broken.
More recently, in October, the PKK demanded an attack on the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) headquarters near Ankara, who left five people dead.
Leave a Reply