PKK challenges Turkey with more armed attacks

ISTANBUL

The co-leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) Murat Karayilan. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is more likely to seek more arms rather than disarm following a recent call to do so from Turkey’s prime minister, militant leader Murat Karayılan has said, Doğan News Agency reported earlier today.

"Today the Middle East is very complex. Why should we abandon arms? Why did we get armed, why should we lay them down? If Syrian Kurds had not anticipated the ongoing events, born arms and constructed a defense force, they would have been in a miserable situation today. Why should we lay down our guns in such an atmosphere?" he said.

"But if the Turkish state recognizes its oppression toward the Kurds and says, 'Let's abandon arms and solve the problem with dialogue,’ then we will say, yes, of course, and indicate that we are in favor of such a solution," he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated a call on PKK militants to lay down their guns while traveling on Nov. 22 from Pakistan to Turkey. He also said PKK militants could go into exile if they disarm.