Kurdish rebels, Turks close to a ceasefire

ANKARA, Turkey — A senior Kurdish politician said Friday that the Kurdish rebels’ armed struggle against Turkey was “99 per cent over,” a day after the rebel leader called for a ceasefire and retreat and the insurgents gave a positive response.

Imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is engaged in talks with Turkish officials to end a nearly 30-year-old conflict, appealed to his fighters on Thursday to cease hostilities, a major step toward ending one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies. His message was read by Kurdish legislators at a spring festival attended by hundreds of thousands of Kurds.

Rebel commander Murat Karayilan has indicated that guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, would heed the call, according to Radikal newspaper and the proKurdish Firat News website.

“Everyone should know that the PKK is prepared for both peace and war,” Firat News, which is close to the rebels, quoted Karayilan as saying. “On this basis we will, with determination, put into practice (the terms) of the process which was started” by Ocalan.

Karayilan has been leading the PKK from bases in northern Iraq since Ocalan’s capture in 1999.

Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party, said Ocalan’s message signalled that the armed struggle was almost over. Demirtas said, however, that the government needed to set up an independent committee that would ensure the safe withdrawal of several thousand rebels from Turkey’s territory.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the armed struggle linked to the Kurdish issue is over,” Demirtas said. “The other one per cent is up to the government.”

The Kurds are seeking guarantees that the rebels would not be attacked by Turkish security forces during the pullout.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, has been fighting for autonomy and greater rights for Kurds in Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984. Turkey announced in December that it was talking to Ocalan with the aim of persuading the PKK to disarm.

The Turkish government reacted cautiously to Ocalan’s call for peace, saying it was a positive development but that Ankara wanted to see whether it would be implemented by the rebels.