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Kurdish rebel threatens to step up armed
campaign in Turkey
13.5.2006
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ANKARA, May 13,
2006 (AFP) - The jailed Kurdish separatist
leader Abdullah Ocalan threatened to "intensify" the
armed struggle of his Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)
in Turkey, the pro-PKK Firsat news agency reported
Saturday.
"The PKK cannot be eliminated by violence, it will
strengthen its numbers, the fight will intensify. We
are warning you," the agency quoted Ocalan as
telling his lawyers at the jail where he is held in
Imrali, northwestern Turkey.
The PKK leader also called on Ankara to implement a
"democratic plan", apparently referring to autonomy
demanded by the PKK for Turkey's Kurdish population
concentrated mainly in the southeast, Firsat
reported.
Ocalan said that rebels could be convinced to
withdraw from Turkey and eventually disarm if their
demands for self-rule were met by the Turkish
government.
Ocalan was jailed for life in 1999 after a death
sentence for treason was commuted following the
abolition of capital punishment.
His comments followed reports by security forces
that four Turkish soldiers and a PKK fighter were
killed in clashes late Friday near Kupelidag in
southeastern Sirnak province, close to the Iraqi
border.
Turkey has been massing troops along the Iraqi
border in recent weeks to prevent PKK fighters
entering Turkey from several bases in northern Iraq.
The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed some
37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms for
self-rule in the southeast in 1984. The PKK has
stepped up its attacks since a 1999 ceasefire broke
down in 2004.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey: Northern Kurdistan, known as (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
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