Peace process ‘only choice’ for an end to Kurdish problem, PKK leader says

ISTANBUL

Demonstrators hold placards in Kurdish (foreground) and English read that "Peace" during a peace rally in Istanbul, Turkey, August 9, 2015. Reuters Photo

A senior leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said peace negotiations were the “only choice” for an end to the Kurdish problem, in an interview on Aug. 11. 

The PKK would stop fighting if Turkey ended its military operation and called for international monitors to oversee a ceasefire, Cemil Bayık said in an interview with the BBC.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has previously said strikes against the PKK would continue until the group ends its attacks on Turkish security forces.

Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), a supra organization that includes the PKK and is based in the PKK headquarters in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq, released a statement on Aug. 10 over the recent incidents in Turkey.

The KCK said in the statement conflict cannot be ended without a “consolidated cease-fire” in which a peace process can flourish.

“All people who have been arrested for political reasons since Nevruz 2013 [a festival celebrated especially by Kurds in March every year] should be released as part of a consolidated cease-fire. There is a need for a monitoring committee which will reveal the actions which do not comply with the cease-fire conditions from both sides,” said the KCK in its statement, according to Al Jazeera Turk’s news website.

The statement also said the outlawed group would not announce a cease-fire without their demands being met.