Erdogan rules out amnesty for PKK fighters
Iran Press TV
Sun Mar 3, 2013 9:54PM GMT
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out a general amnesty for Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters.
'We are not entitled to pardon murderers. We will not interfere in such a thing,' Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency on Sunday.
Erdogan made the remarks amid reports that the Turkish secret service has started a new round of peace talks with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The PKK leader has been serving a life sentence at a prison on an island off Istanbul since his capture in 1999.
In December 2012, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization started negotiations with the PKK with an ultimate goal of disarming the movement.
Erdogan's chief adviser, Yalcin Akdogan, said in an interview on December 31 that the government decided to begin the talks after coming to the conclusion that it is unlikely to defeat PKK fighters militarily.
'The main aim for the government is to disarm them. You cannot get results and abolish an organization only with armed struggle,' Akdogan stated.
On January 9, reports said that the government and the PKK had reached an agreement on a peace roadmap to end nearly three decades of hostility.
The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region since the 1980s. The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead.
GJH/AS
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