Turkish Kurdistan

News in Brief

It’s time to disarm. That was the message of imprisoned Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Öcalan to the PKK armed Kurdish insurgency, delivered publicly on 21 March, to mark Kurdish new year.

Öcalan asked the PKK to convene a special conference this spring to put down the gun.

Other Kurds are less trusting of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who recently opposed a key Kurdish demand, an outside group to monitor the peace process.