{"id":70039,"date":"2013-04-26T14:19:31","date_gmt":"2013-04-26T11:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=70039"},"modified":"2023-07-25T15:17:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T12:17:26","slug":"kurdish-rebels-to-retreat-from-turkey-to-northern-iraq-next-month-as-part-of-peace-efforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/04\/26\/kurdish-rebels-to-retreat-from-turkey-to-northern-iraq-next-month-as-part-of-peace-efforts\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurdish rebels to retreat from Turkey to northern Iraq next month as part of peace efforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Associated Press,\u00a0Published: April\u00a025<\/h3>\n
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ANKARA, Turkey \u2014 Kurdish rebels will start withdrawing thousands of guerrilla fighters from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq, a rebel commander said Thursday, in an important milestone toward ending a nearly three-decade old insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives.<\/p>\n

In a news conference held in northern Iraq\u2019s Qandil mountains, rebel commander Murat Karayilan said the extraction would be gradual, but warned it would come to an immediate stop should the rebels be attacked as they leave Turkey.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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    He also outlined for the first time \u201cobligations\u201d the Turkish government needs to fulfill for peace, including enacting a new constitution, dismantling special security units established to fight the rebels and declaring an amnesty for all imprisoned guerrillas. A video of the news conference was aired by Turkey\u2019s private Dogan news agency.<\/p>\n

    The decision to leave Turkey and retreat to bases in northern Iraq comes a month after the rebels declared a cease-fire, heeding a call by jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is engaged in talks with Turkish officials to end the fighting. Ocalan also had asked his group, the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party, or PKK, to leave Turkey as part of the peace efforts.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe withdrawal will be gradual, in groups,\u201d Karayilan, who took over the PKK\u2019s leadership after Ocalan\u2019s capture and imprisonment in 1999, said. \u201cIt will be completed in the shortest time possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \u201cWithdrawal will stop immediately if there is any attack, operation or bombing of our guerrilla forces and our forces will use their right to reciprocate,\u201d Karayilan warned.<\/p>\n

    He said the rebels would pull out of Turkey through usual routes they use to slip into the country from Iraq.<\/p>\n

    There was no immediate statement from Turkish officials on the announcement. A vague statement released at the end of a national security meeting said Turkey\u2019s leaders had \u201cassessed\u201d steps needed to ensure that \u201cefforts being taken for the peace and security of the people yield lasting results.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The rebels\u2019 retreat is seen as a major step toward a political settlement of a conflict with roots dating to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the redrawing of boundaries in the Middle East, which left Kurds scattered in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.<\/p>\n

    Kurds in Turkey were long denied a separate identity and basic cultural and linguistic rights. In 1984, Ocalan\u2019s PKK launched a campaign, first for independence, and then for autonomy and greater rights for Kurds \u2014 who make up around 20 percent of Turkey\u2019s 75 million people.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThe withdrawal is a very positive step,\u201d said Mesut Yegen, an expert on the conflict at Istanbul\u2019s Sehir University. \u201cIt is vital for the continuation of the political dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The PKK, which frequently launched attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies. The Turkish government estimates that between 1,500 to 2,000 of the rebels operate from inside Turkey, mostly from caves and other hideouts in the country\u2019s rugged southeast.<\/p>\n

    more :\u00a0http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/middle_east\/kurdish-rebels-announce-forces-retreat-from-turkey-as-part-of-peace-efforts\/2013\/04\/25\/90c73b1c-adaa-11e2-b240-9ef3a72c67cc_story.html<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By\u00a0Associated Press,\u00a0Published: April\u00a025 ANKARA, Turkey \u2014 Kurdish rebels will start withdrawing thousands of guerrilla fighters from Turkey on May 8 and retreat across the border to northern Iraq, a rebel commander said Thursday, in an important milestone toward ending a nearly three-decade old insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives. In a news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":70040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[3238,1280],"class_list":["post-70039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-murat-karayilan","tag-pkk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}