Kurdish rebel leader urges end to armed struggle in Turkey

[Bosonic]

Last edited Sat Mar 21, 2015, 08:22 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: AFP

Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on Saturday called for Kurds to hold a congress to bring an end to the decades-long armed struggle waged in Turkey by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"A congress should be organised to bring an end to the 40-year struggle against the Turkish Republic," Ocalan said in a message for Kurdish New Year celebrations in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

The message by Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence on a prison island in the Sea of Marmara, was read out by pro-Kurdish lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder and hailed a "new era" between Turkey and the Kurds.

Ocalan said the congress -- which would likely involve all the Kurdish political forces in Turkey -- would decide "a social and political strategy which will determine our history".

Read more: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kurdish-rebel-leader-set-announce-turkey-peace-plan-050440618.html#sDJb1lH

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Öcalan urges PKK to convene congress to lay down arms
Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has called on the PKK to convene an extraordinary congress to "end the 40-year-long arms struggle" against Turkey.

The two-page letter of Öcalan was read during Nevruz festivities in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on March 21. HDP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pervin Buldan read the Kurdish version of the statement while her colleague Sırrı Süreyya Önder read the Turkish one.

"We find it necessary for PKK to convene a congress to end the 40-year-long armed struggle against TC and adapt itself to the spirit of new era," the letter said.

In the statement, Öcalan stressed the need for a "democratic solution" to Turkey's Kurdish problem, arguing that the "meaningless and merciless identity wars" were the result of "the neoliberal crisis caused by the imperialist capitalism and its local collaborators."

Read more: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ocalan-urges-pkk-to-convene-congress-to-lay-down-arms.aspx?pageID=238&nID=79988&NewsCatID=338

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. I wonder what's up.

[mainer]

2. Under attack by ISIS, maybe Kurds realize the Turks aren't so bad

They can't simultaneously fight two enemies. Or maybe they realize they need the Turks on their side in their battle against ISIS.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Turkish Kurds aren't under attack from ISIS.

Their Syrian and Kurdish brethren, yes.

But for some reason, ISIS isn't fucking with Turkish Kurds. Or Turkey itself, for that matter.

We all need the Turks on our side in the battle against ISIS. It'd be nice if they actually showed up. But I suspect Turkey has cut a deal with ISIS. Remember the dozens of Turkish diplomats captured by ISIS in Mosul last year? They got a free pass home somehow.

Turkey refuses to let the anti-ISIS alliance use airbases on its territory.

Turkey has been a wide open conduit for for foreign ISIS recruits heading for the battlefield.

Turkey doesn't seem to care about anything other than overthrowing Assad next door.

It is a baleful influence at this point.