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Turkish PM rejects Kurdish leader's
ceasefire offer
29.9.2006 |
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ANKARA, September
29, -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has rejected a
ceasefire call by Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah
Ocalan, urging Kurdish separatists instead to
abandon their fight against security forces.
"A ceasefire is done between states. It is not
something for the terrorist organisation," Erdogan
said in an interview late Thursday with Samanyolu
private television channel, referring to the
Ocalan's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
"The terrorist organisation must lay down its arms.
That is what we are waiting for to restore peace in
the (Kurdish) region."
Ocalan on Thursday appealed from his prison cell to
the PKK to call a truce in its battle with the
Turkish security forces.
"I appeal to the PKK to call a ceasefire... (and)
not use weapons unless it is attacked with the aim
of being annihilated," he said.
The Turkish army, which has been battling the PKK in
southeastern Turkey (Kurdistan-Turkey) since 1984,
has ignored such ceasefire announcements in the
past.
"Such a process ... is very important to build a
democratic union between Turks and Kurds," Ocalan
said in a statement relayed to AFP by his lawyers.
"With this process, the way to democratic dialogue
will also be opened," Ocalan said.
He met with his lawyers in his cell on the prison
island of Imrali, where he has been the sole inmate
since his arrest in 1999.
But despite serving a life sentence for separatism
and treason, Ocalan is believed to retain
significant influence over the PKK, which has been
plagued by internal fighting since his arrest.
The rebel group, classed as a terror organisation by
Turkey, the European Union and the United States,
had called a truce immediately after Ocalan's arrest
in Kenya in 1999, but took up arms again in June
2004 and has significantly increased its attacks
since, notably this year.
It was the longest lasting of four PKK ceasefires
over the years, all of which were rejected by the
army, which wants the rebels to lay down their arms
and surrender or face being hunted down to the last
militant.
More than 37,000 people have died in
Kurdish-populated southeast Turkey since the PKK
uprising began in 1984.
AFP
The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan".
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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