In this file photo dated Wednesday, March 21, 2018, a youth holds a flag with the image of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Istanbul, Turkey. [AP/Lefteris Pitarakis]
The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia will heed its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s call for disarmament and declare an immediate ceasefire, a news agency close to the group has cited it as saying, in a major step toward ending a 40-year conflict with the Turkish state.
The group said it hoped Ankara would release Ocalan, held in near total isolation since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament, adding that the necessary political and democratic conditions need to be established for the process to succeed. [Reuters]