PKK "peace caravan" crosses into Turkey (Roundup)

Oct 19, 2009, 16:56 GMT

Istanbul -- A group of 34 representatives of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Monday crossed into Turkey in what the PKK has called a 'peace caravan', to resolve its decades-old conflict with the government.

Turkish television showed a large crowd of Kurds dancing, singing, and holding banners in support of peace gathered at the border to greet the delegation, which includes eight PKK fighters and 26 Kurdish refugees.

The group was questioned by a Turkish prosecutor at the border as lawyers representing the 34 PKK members arrived at the scene, Turkey's Anatolia News Agency reported.

The trip, reported as a surrender of the PKK in Turkey, was orchestrated by the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who called on the group to make the trip in support of the Turkish government's 'democratization initiative' designed to give the country's Kurds increased cultural and political rights.

Kurdish media reported that the group hoped to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul welcomed the PKK's move.

'I hope this opportunity will not be missed,' he told Turkish state television. 'It's not possible to struggle against an enormous state, the Turkish state, and to live in the mountains for a lifetime.'

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq likewise hailed the initiative.

'We are thrilled,' said Ahmed Fouad, chief of staff to KRG President Massoud Barzani. 'The presidency of the Kurdistan region supports any move towards peace in the the region.'

Hashem Hashemi, mayor of the Turkish town of Cizre, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, likewise hailed any sign of progress in Turkish-Kurdish relations.

'If this goes as planned, and without obstacles, a new era will begin and will open prospects for solving the Kurdish question,' he said.

In a written statement, the co-leaders of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) called on the government to make good use of this symbolic event. 'We want to express that we see this step as a historic one,' DTP co-leaders Ahmet Turk and Emine Ayna said.

In its statement, the party noted that a similar surrender took place in 1999, after Ocalan's surrender.

'Ten years later, Turkey once again has the opportunity,' they said. 'It should not spoil it by repeating the same mistakes made in 1999. This is our expectation and our hope.'

The PKK has been fighting Turkish forces since 1984, in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead. Although the group originally sought the creation of a separate Kurdish state, it now calls for improved rights for Turkey's Kurds, believed to account for between 12 and 15 million, or roughly a fifth of Turkey's population.

Kurdish media reported that a second delegation of Kurds living in Europe was also expected to arrive in Turkey at an unspecified later date.