Jailed PKK leader urges Kurds to abandon arms
The imprisoned leader of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has called upon Kurds to cease their decades-long armed struggle against Turkey, and hold a congress as part of efforts for a peaceful resolution of the differences.
"A congress should be organized to bring an end to the 40-year struggle against the Turkish Republic," Ocalan said in a message on the occasion of the Persian New Year in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Saturday.
The message, read out by pro-Kurdish lawmaker, Sirri Sureyya Onder, also lauded a "new era" between Turkey and the Kurds.
Ocalan said the congress would decide "a social and political strategy which will determine our history."
The congress would probably include all the Kurdish political factions Turkey, and is expected to handle the pullout of PKK fighters from southeastern Turkey and their disarmament.
Ocalan also hailed the recapture of the Syrian town of Kobani by Kurdish forces as a "victory" and a "new symbol of history."
Kurdish fighters retook the strategic town, located on the border with Turkey and also known as Ayn al-Arab, from the ISIL Takfiris on January 26, after more than 100 days of fierce fighting.
The Turkish government launched a peace process with the PKK in 2012 to put an end to the armed Kurdish campaign for autonomy.
The PKK subsequently declared a ceasefire with Ankara, and began pulling out from southeastern Turkey to camps in northern Iraq, where they are currently based.
The PKK had been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
MP/HMV/SS
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