Jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his followers to lay down their arms, in step towards ending the 30 year-old insurgency in Turkey.
The statement was read out by another PKK member calling on Kurdish rebels to hold a congress on disarmament in the spring. It marked the first time a message by Ocalan was read out in front of Turkish government officials.
“We are in the process of ending the 30-year of conflict in the form of a perpetual peace, and our primary goal is to reach a democratic solution. “This is a historic call to replace armed struggle with democratic politics,” the statement read. It is being seen as one of the most significant steps towards peace since the 2013 ceasefire.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the decision as ‘very important’ but warned that earlier calls by the Kurdish rebels had failed to end the fighting.
The statements come ahead of a parliamentary elections in June, where Erodogan’s AKP party is hoping to
