The Kurdish guerrilla group PKK has declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday beginning on October 1; but the group fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey has said it will not give up its weapons. Murat Karayilan, a senior commander of the armed-wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, made the announcement in the rugged, isolated Qandil Mountains in Iraq's northeast corner where the group is based. He added that the group's guerillas would shoot “only in the cases where our forces are targeted and we will not carry out any operation of a military nature.” Speaking in his mountain hideout, he said that “this ceasefire would be implemented by all parts within the PKK.” He added that “if the Turkish state has a democratic solution for the Kurdish issue we will give up our weapons.” The ceasefire was also posted on the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency's website. It said the group had heeded a call from its imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Their decision also came 10 days after the Iraqi government said it would shut down all offices belonging to the PKK around the country. Ali Al-Dabagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, had said then that the decision was made because “Iraq wants good relations with Turkey and all neighbouring countries, so the Iraqi government has decided to close any office belonging to the PKK in Iraq.”
Erdogan to meet Bush
Erdogan has hinted that he will not accept any ceasefire Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, and George Bush, the US president, are expected to meet on Monday and discuss Turkey's battle against Kurdish separatists. Turkey, however, is likely to press ahead with its military drive targeting the rebels. Ankara has ignored all previous ceasefires by the group, saying it does not negotiate with terrorists. Military commanders have vowed to fight until all rebels are killed or surrender. On Thursday, Erdogan had hinted that Turkey would not recognise any ceasefire called by the rebel group, and would accept nothing less than their disarmament. He spoke after imprisoned rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan urged the PKK to call a unilateral ceasefire. “Ceasefire is the wrong term,” Erdogan said in an interview with Samanyolu TV. “A terrorist organisation has to lay down its arms.”
A terrorist organisation?
The conflict has claimed 37,000 lives since it started in 1984 The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by both Turkey and the United States, but the group operates relatively openly in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. Washington recently appointed a special envoy to counter the rebels following repeated veiled threats from Turkey to take unilateral military action against the rebels in Iraq if necessary. The United States has warned Turkey against entering northern Iraq, one of the few stable areas in that country, fearing that an incursion would alienate Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-American group in the region. A surge of rebel violence has killed more than a dozen soldiers and policemen in recent weeks and sparked widespread condemnation. Militants believed to be linked to the rebels have also bombed tourist resorts, killing three and injuring more than a dozen tourists.
The conflict has claimed 37,000 lives since the guerrillas took up arms in 1984.
Last year, the guerrilla group had declared a ceasefire, but the truce lasted little longer a month. The rebels said the government failed to recognise their group and was maintaining its military drive against its members. The PKK's longest unilateral ceasefire was declared after Ocalan's capture in 1999 and lasted five years.
AFP
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