PKK leader asks for direct contact with group ahead of disarmament

ISTANBUL

AP Photo

Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has demanded direct contact with his organization and better prison conditions as a first step toward militants’ disarmament, according to daily Hürriyet.
 
Öcalan said it would be "easier to convince" the Kurdish people who support the PKK that the solution could be "psychological and political” with such steps.
 
Hürriyet further said meetings between state officials and Öcalan also included a calendar for disarmament, with spring highlighted as a date for laying down arms.
 
High-ranking PKK militants will be given the option of exile abroad if they lay down their arms, according to claims. These countries, however, cannot share borders with Turkey and cannot be in the European Union.  
 
Öcalan is serving a life sentence on İmralı island in the Marmara Sea.
 
The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.