Erdogan urges Kurdish PKK to disarm

Ankara, Jan 11 (IANS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday urged the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to surrender its weapons, signalling a potential breakthrough in the country's most intractable conflicts.

Speaking in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir, Erdogan described what he called a "new and important window of opportunity" to resolve a struggle that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s. "We do not think it is right that this should be wasted," he said.

His government has recently enlisted support from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, whose members visited Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, to explore possibilities for disarmament.

Local media reports suggest that Ocalan may soon urge PKK militants to lay down their arms, potentially marking a major turning point in the decades-long struggle.

The push for peace comes as Turkey seeks to strengthen its domestic unity amid regional turbulence, Xinhua news agency reported.

Erdogan emphasised the urgency of ending what he called "half-century-long separatist terrorism" and burying it "in history with all its dimensions."

Even as diplomatic overtures continue, Turkish security forces maintain pressure on the organisation.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced that police operations across 41 provinces in the past 10 days had resulted in the detention of 147 suspected PKK members.

The PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union, has been in rebellion against the Turkish government for over three decades.

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