 for the militant group to disband was a "historic opportunity," Agence France-Presse reported.){kind=link}
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said that the appeal by the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the militant group to disband was a “historic opportunity,” Agence France-Presse reported.
“We have a historic opportunity to advance towards the objective of destroying the wall of terror,” Erdoğan said, following jailed PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan’s call on Thursday.
The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, has led a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.
On Thursday Öcalan said “all groups must lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself” — but its military leadership has yet to respond.
Erdoğan said Turkey would “keep a close watch” to make sure the talks to end the insurgency were “brought to a successful conclusion,” warning against any “provocations.”
“When the pressure of terrorism and arms is eliminated, the space for politics in democracy will naturally expand,” Erdoğan promised on Friday.
“No member of this nation, whether Turk or Kurd, will forgive anyone for blocking this process by ambivalent speeches or actions, as has happened in the past,” he said.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting between Turkey and the PKK since 1984.