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ANKARA, June 28 (AFP) - 16h32 - A senior
commander of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
called on Turkey Tuesday to follow the example of
the United States in Iraq and launch talks with the
armed militants to find a solution to mounting
violence in the country's southeast.
"We say (to Ankara), 'Let us start talks to find a
solution.' Send us an official for discussions,"
Murat Karayilan, a leading member of the outlawed
PKK, said in remarks quoted on the website of the
pro-Kurdish MHA news agency.
Karayilan cited a weekend announcement by US Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that US officials are
holding talks with Iraqi insurgents and suggested
that Turkey follow the US example.
"Look at the United States," Karayuilan said. "It
said it is holding talks even with organizations and
people fighting against it with all means and no
rules.
"Has the United States humiliated itself? Has it
received a blow? It has only shown what a great
state it is ... Would the world collapse on Turkey
if it negotiates with the PKK?" Karayilan asked.
Turkey categorically rules out any talks with the
PKK, which, like the United States and the European
Union, it considers a terror organization; it wants
the rebels to lay down their arms and surrender or
face an army crackdown.
Karayilan's appeal came at a time of mounting
violence in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast after
the PKK called off a five-year unilateral truce in
June 2004 on grounds that reforms undertaken by
Ankara to expand Kurdish freedoms were insufficient.
The PKK led a 15-year armed campaign from 1984 to
1999 for self-rule in Turkey's southeast.
The conflict claimed some 37,000 lives and led to
allegations of gross human rights violations on both
sides.
Following the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan
in 1999, the group abandoned its claim for
statehood, declared a ceasefire and withdrew into
northern Iraq.
Turkey says an estimated 5,000 PKK rebels are hiding
in the northern Iraqi mountains, with growing
numbers of them infiltrating back into Turkey to
engage in anti-government violence.
AFP
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