ANKARA (Reuters) -The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) could start handing over its weapons “within days”, a spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said on Tuesday, the clearest sign yet that efforts to secure the outlawed group’s disarmament may be nearing a breakthrough.
Asked by reporters whether there was a timeline for the PKK militants to lay down their arms, spokesman Omer Celik said:
“I don’t want to give a definite timeline at this stage. (…) Now we’ve reached a stage where it could happen in a matter of days.”
Celik added that the coming days would be “extremely important for a Turkey free of terrorism”.
The PKK, which has been locked in a bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades, decided in May to disband and end its armed struggle.
Since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 – originally with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state – the conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, imposed a huge economic burden and fuelled social tensions in Turkey.
The PKK’s decision to disarm could boost NATO member Turkey’s political and economic stability and encourage moves to ease tensions in neighbouring Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish forces are allied with U.S. forces.
(Reporting by Ece ToksabayEditing by Gareth Jones)
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