Kurdish rebels to withdraw from Turkey
SOURCE: BETA
IRAQ -- Kurdish rebels will on May 8 begin their withdrawal from Turkey and will head for northern Iraq.


 

This has been announced by their commander Murat Karayilan.

Karayilan held a news conference in the Iraqi mountains and said that the withdrawal of thousands of guerrillas will be gradual, in groups, and will be completed in the shortest possible time.

He warned that the withdrawal will be immediately terminated if the rebels come under attacked as they left Turkey, and that they will in this case "exercise their right to strike back."

The decision to withdraw from Turkey to the bases in northern Iraq was made a month after the rebels declared a cease-fire, called for by their imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan, who negotiated with Turkish officials on ending the conflict.

Ocalan (64) on that occasion called on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) "to leave Turkey as part of peace efforts."

Karayilan (59), who took command of the PKK after the capture of Ocalan in 1999, said that the PKK - described as a terrorist organizations - would lay down their arms when Ocalan and other Kurdish rebels are released from prison.

Turkey has demanded that the rebels withdraw from its territory unarmed.

Their withdrawal is an important milestone in ending nearly three decades of separatist rebellion during which tens of thousands died. The aim of the rebellion was the secession of southeastern Turkey, where Kurds have declared their own state.

A people whose origins are close to Iranians, the Kurds - numbering 38 million worldwide - also inhabit northern Iraq, where they have partial autonomy, as well as parts of Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Russia and Lebanon.