Imprisoned PKK leader urges group to lay down arms

The imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has urged his group to lay down its arms and disband, the BBC reported on February 27th.

Having been read out in a letter by MPs from a pro-Kurdish party, his statement intended to end 40 years of armed struggle in southeast Turkey, which has seen the deaths of tens of thousands.

Ocalan, who is 75, had previously met with the MP’s for a number of hours in Imrali, which is an island in the Sea of Marmara, located to the south-west of the major city, Istanbul.

BBC