TURKEY-KURDS/ERDOGAN Turkish leaders welcome PKK leader's call to end armed struggle

Record ID: 217830

  • Title: TURKEY-KURDS/ERDOGAN Turkish leaders welcome PKK leader's call to end armed struggle
  • Date: 21st March 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF DIYARBAKIR, UMUT VARLI, SAYING: "He reiterated his previous call asking PKK to hold a congress for disarmament. But this message does not precisely call on them to lay down the weapons.There will be a process. He (eds note: refers to PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan) unveiled ten principles. How many of these principles will be adopted (eds note
  • Embargoed: 5th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADEED7ZHMY585HJ94ZHUUUX0AQ
  • Story Text: President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday (March 21) welcomed a historical call by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to end his militant group's three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
    Erdogan then prime minister, launched talks with Ocalan in late 2012 to end an insurgency that has killed 40,000 people, ravaged the region's economy and tarnished Turkey's image abroad. Progress has been faltering since then, but Kurdish faith in Ocalan remains undiminished.
    "I hope these will be the last tears mother are shedding. Let it be a cornerstone that truly combines peace and solidarity.. not a Newroz like those of the past, when everywhere was burned and destroyed by Molotov cocktails, stones and fireworks," Erdogan told a large crowd waving Turkish flags.
    Erdogan, who triggered anger last weekend by suggesting there was no "Kurdish problem" in Turkey, said in a speech hundreds of kilometres away in the southwestern city of Denizli that he hoped Saturday would mark a turning point.
    "Let Newroz be a cornerstone that truly combines love and excitement," he said, referring to the Kurdish "Newroz" New Year.
    Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc welcomed the message and claimed it as a success of the ruling AK Party government.
    "I believe that the positive elements in this message shows that further progress could be made. But this is a very positive and hopeful message. I see this message that calls for laying down the weapons and ending armed struggle against Turkey, as a success of our government," Arinc told reporters in Ankara.
    Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Saturday his militant group's three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state had become "unsustainable" but stopped short of declaring an immediate end to its armed struggle.
    In a message relayed by Kurdish politicians to tens of thousands gathered in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) urged his militant group to hold a congress on laying down its weapons.
    Young men in green guerrilla outfits and women in brightly coloured dresses danced as patriotic Kurdish songs played. Organisers claimed a million people attended, but there were no official figures.
    Large screens each side of a stage showed Ocalan's face while many waved the flags of his militant group, deemed a terrorist organisation by Ankara, the United States and the European Union.
    The mere display of Kurdish insignia, let alone an image of Ocalan, could have brought arrest and imprisonment less than a decade ago. It still enrages many nationalists.
    "We welcome his (Ocalan's) latest message. Of course, we want peace. Of course. All Kurds want peace. But peace cannot be achieved unilaterally. It should be reciprocal. Ocalan is the one who always take the steps but from now on we expect Turkey to take some steps as well," Diyarbakir resident Sinan Kuru said.
    "He reiterated his previous call asking PKK to hold a congress for disarmament. But this message does not precisely call on them to lay down the weapons.There will be a process. He (PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan) unveiled ten principles. How many of these principles will be adopted (by Turkish government)?" another resident Umut Varli added.
    At a Newroz event two years ago, Ocalan, jailed since 1999 on an island near Istanbul, declared a ceasefire and said it was "time for guns to fall silent".
    His fighters began withdrawing to Iraq two months later under a deal envisaging increased rights for Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of Turkey's 78 million population.
    The PKK took up arms to carve out an independent Kurdish homeland in the southeast in 1984. Their demands include autonomy for local governments and Kurdish-language education.
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