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Kurd rebels end ceasefire against Turkey
7.10.2005
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DIYARBAKIR,
Turkey, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Kurdish rebels said on
Thursday they had ended a unilateral ceasefire
against Turkey and said that now the European Union
had opened entry talks with Ankara this was a
problem not for Turkey but for the whole EU.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels declared a
one-month ceasefire in their fight against Turkish
security forces in August and extended it till Oct.
3, the day Ankara won EU approval to start accession
negotiations.
But Turkey's government and armed forces ignored the
call, just as they have ignored all previous
ceasefires, and military operations against the
rebels in the mainly Kurdish southeast continued
unabated, the PKK said.
"It is certain that the Kurdish people will use
their legitimate right of active defence and
democratic resistance to protect themselves and
their national honour against the increasing
operations of destruction by the Turkish state,"
said a PKK statement.
The PKK's ceasefire appeared to be an effort to get
their case onto the political agenda during
sensitive negotiations leading up to Turkey's Oct. 3
date for the start of entry talks. But the move met
little success.
"The lack of any mention in the EU's negotiation
framework agreement of a solution to the Kurdish
problem, or even a single word about the continuing
low-intensity war, is an endorsement of the Turkish
state's policy of denial," said the statement quoted
by the Germany-based Mesopotamia news agency which
is close to the rebels.
The EU and the United States both view the PKK as a
terrorist organisation.
"With the start of the negotiations the Kurdish
problem is no longer just Turkey's problem, it is
now a basic problem of the EU," the PKK statement
said.
But it made no mention of attacking European
targets. More than 30,000 people, most of them
Kurds, have been killed since the PKK took up arms
in 1984 to fight for self-rule in Turkey's
southeast.
Reuters
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