Kurdish militants stop withdrawal from Turkey
Kurdish guerrillas called a halt to withdrawal from Turkey after complaining the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to keep to peace process agreements
Kurdish militants said on Monday they had stopped withdrawing from Turkish soil, citing failures by the government to take steps agreed under a peace process, but the fighters pledged to maintain a ceasefire for now.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas started withdrawing in May but the push to end a conflict that has cost more than 40,000 lives has become increasingly frayed, with both sides accusing each other of failing to keep their side of the peace deal.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, jailed on an island near Istanbul, declared a ceasefire in March after months of talks with the Turkish state and his militants began moving to Iraq two months later under a deal envisaging increased rights for Kurds.
“While the withdrawal is halted, the ceasefire position will be maintained so as to give [the ruling] AK Party an opportunity to take steps in line with Leader Apo’s [Abdullah Ocalan] project,” the KCK – the rebels’ umbrella political group – said in a statement.
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has staked much political capital in the peace process, was quoted last month as saying the PKK had not kept to its promise, with only 20 per cent of rebels leaving Turkey, mostly women and children.
Turkey, the United States and European Union all call the PKK a terrorist organisation. The group originally took up arms to carve out an independent homeland in the southeast of the country but later scaled back its demands to include greater cultural rights and autonomy.