KURDISH QUESTION

On Friday (13 August), the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced the decision for a ceasefire between 13 August and 20 September.

As reported by Fırat News Agency (ANF), the PKK withdrew its forces from their defence positions. The militant organization will not carry out any actions during this period and attacks and operations will be taken to defence in the meantime.

According to the news, the decision was taken by the Kongra Gel (PKK) Executive Board and the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan (KCK), the umbrella organisation that includes the PKK.

"A time of dialogue has been initiated that expresses the search for a mutual intend towards a solution for the question", the PKK announced and listed a number of factors that influenced their decision. These are the message sent by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, the calls for a bilateral ceasefire voiced by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and non-governmental organizations, and the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

Four conditions

The PKK put forward four conditions in order to make this "a permanent process":

1. The government should stop military and political operations. A bilateral ceasefire should be established.

2. The Kurdish politicians detained in Turkish prisons in the scope of the so-called "KCK operations" should be released.

3. A period of peace negotiations as envisaged by Abdullah Öcalan should be initiated and Öcalan should be included into this stage.

4. The election threshold of 10 percent should be decreased.

Calling the UN

The PKK furthermore added that a solution could be reached on the basis of democratic autonomy.

The PKK decided for six unilateral ceasefires since 1993. However, the separatist organization stated that they could not advance the process unilaterally, saying that the government had not met their expectations.  The PKK called "forces supporting peace and democracy" to step in. The organization also called the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Administration in Iraq to take an active role within this process and furthermore requested the United Nations and the international community to show some efforts for a democratic solution. (TK/VK)