Jailed Kurdish P.K.K. leader Ocalan urges militants to lay down arms

IRNA- Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdish militant group P.K.K., has called on his followers to lay down their arms after decades of battling the Turkish state.

“Convene your congress and make a decision. All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Ocalan said in a message from prison, Turkish media reported.

The message was read in Kurdish and Turkish by pro-Kurdish party politicians who visited Ocalan earlier in the day.

The P.K.K. is designated a terrorist group by Turkey. And Ocalan has been in prison since 1999.

In October last year, a coalition partner to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if his group renounces violence.

In 1998, Turkey and Syria signed an agreement in the southern Turkish city of Adana, according to which Syria stopped supporting the P.K.K. and expelled Ocalan, which paved the way for his capture by Turkey.

The P.K.K. is expected to heed Ocalan’s call, even though some factions may resist.