By Associated Press, Published: April 25
ANKARA, Turkey — Kurdish rebels will start withdrawing thousands of guerrilla fighters from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq, a rebel commander said Thursday, in an important milestone toward ending a nearly three-decade old insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
In a news conference held in northern Iraq’s Qandil mountains, rebel commander Murat Karayilan said the extraction would be gradual, but warned it would come to an immediate stop should the rebels be attacked as they leave Turkey.
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The decision to leave Turkey and retreat to bases in northern Iraq comes a month after the rebels declared a cease-fire, heeding a call by jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is engaged in talks with Turkish officials to end the fighting. Ocalan also had asked his group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to leave Turkey as part of the peace efforts.
“The withdrawal will be gradual, in groups,” Karayilan, who took over the PKK’s leadership after Ocalan’s capture and imprisonment in 1999, said. “It will be completed in the shortest time possible.”
“Withdrawal will stop immediately if there is any attack, operation or bombing of our guerrilla forces and our forces will use their right to reciprocate,” Karayilan warned.
He said the rebels would pull out of Turkey through usual routes they use to slip into the country from Iraq.
There was no immediate statement from Turkish officials on the announcement. A vague statement released at the end of a national security meeting said Turkey’s leaders had “assessed” steps needed to ensure that “efforts being taken for the peace and security of the people yield lasting results.”
The rebels’ retreat is seen as a major step toward a political settlement of a conflict with roots dating to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the redrawing of boundaries in the Middle East, which left Kurds scattered in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.
Kurds in Turkey were long denied a separate identity and basic cultural and linguistic rights. In 1984, Ocalan’s PKK launched a campaign, first for independence, and then for autonomy and greater rights for Kurds — who make up around 20 percent of Turkey’s 75 million people.
“The withdrawal is a very positive step,” said Mesut Yegen, an expert on the conflict at Istanbul’s Sehir University. “It is vital for the continuation of the political dialogue.”
The PKK, which frequently launched attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. The Turkish government estimates that between 1,500 to 2,000 of the rebels operate from inside Turkey, mostly from caves and other hideouts in the country’s rugged southeast.
more : http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/kurdish-rebels-announce-forces-retreat-from-turkey-as-part-of-peace-efforts/2013/04/25/90c73b1c-adaa-11e2-b240-9ef3a72c67cc_story.html
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