Defying their leaders' orders, a second batch of outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels surrender to Turkish authorities to benefit from immunity laws.

Last July, the Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to boost political rights to end Turkey's decades-old Kurdish problem.

Erdogan's so-called democratic initiative aims to expand cultural and political liberties to address decades of the Kurds grievances who say they have faced state-sanctioned discrimination and violence.

The PKK has dropped its historical demand for an independent homeland and now seeks greater political rights for Turkey's Kurds. Their demand for full amnesty has been rejected by the government which says it only applies to low-level PKK members.

A group of eight members of the PKK, based in Iraq, surrendered on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in the town of Silopi on the Turkish side of the border with Iraq and are being questioned by a prosecutor in the city of Diyarbakir, Turkey's Today's Zaman reported on Thursday.

The first group, also of eight PKK members, arrived on October 19 and received a tumultuous welcome by thousands of pro-PKK supporters.

Since 1984, the PKK conflict with the Turkish government has claimed 40,000 lives, mainly Kurdish.

The European Union, which Turkey wants to join, has praised Erdogan's efforts to end the conflict.

FTP/SS/MMA