Outlawed Kurdish group, the PKK has declared a ceasefire with Turkey after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called on the movement to lay down its arms and dissolve itself.
In a statement on Saturday, the PKK said it hoped Turkey would release Ocalan, who has been imprisoned in solitary confinement since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament.
It follows his call this week aimed at ending four decades of armed struggle in south-eastern Turkey in which tens of thousands of people have been killed.
His announcement came months after Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP party and an ally of the Turkish government, launched an initiative to bring an end to the conflict.
Ocalan affectionately referred to as Apo by Kurdish nationalists met MPs from a pro-Kurdish party this week on Imrali, an island in the Sea of Marmara, south-west of Istanbul, where he is imprisoned.
“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK executive committee said in a statement on Saturday, quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency.
“None of our forces will take armed action unless attacked,” it added.
The PKK which stands for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party said Ocalan’s prison conditions must be eased, adding he “must be able to live and work in physical freedom and be able to establish unhindered relationships with anyone he wants, including his friends”.
The group has waged an insurgency since 1984, with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for about 20% of Turkey’s 85 million people. It is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi
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