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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s defense minister on Saturday demanded the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) surrender its weapons after the group said it was committed to its founder’s call to disband, but the PKK leadership said a one-sided ceasefire is not enough.
“The terrorist organization PKK and all its extensions operating in different geographies and under different names - regardless of where they are located - must make the decision to terminate immediately and surrender their weapons immediately and unconditionally. There is and will be no response to any statement or action to the contrary,” Yasar Guler, the Turkish defense minister, said in a ceremony honouring slain soldiers.
In February, jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called on the group he founded to lay down arms and dissolve itself after more than four decades of war with Turkey. His statement was issued amid renewed peace efforts to end a conflict that broke out in 1984, has spilled over international borders, and claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The PKK said it accepted Ocalan’s call for peace and declared a unilateral ceasefire, but on Saturday it accused Turkey of continuing to carry out attacks.
“We see the ceasefire we declared as an important practical step and as a way to put Leader Abdullah Ocalan's historic call into practice. Of course, it is not possible to take such practical steps by unilaterally ceasing fire; in order to take practical steps, all weapons must be silenced,” read a statement from the PKK’s Executive Committee.
“The military attacks of the Turkish army have partially decreased compared to the previous process, there have been a total of 73 aircraft attacks, 4175 artillery and howitzer fires, and 8 uses of prohibited weapons during the two-week unilateral ceasefire period,” the PKK statement added.
Pervin Buldan, a lawmaker from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) that is mediating the peace talks, said in an interview with Turkish Haber Medya that they will meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the Eid holiday at the end of March. She said they will expect concrete steps from the government.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now calls for autonomy. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
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