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Militants in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, would disarm if the Turkish government met certain conditions, one of the group’s leaders, Murat Karayılan, told the BBC in an interview published Wednesday.
"If the Kurdish issue is resolved in a democratic way, through dialogue, we will lay down our weapons," Karayılan told the British broadcaster. "We will not carry arms."
The outlawed PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984. The nearly 26-year conflict has claimed 45,000 lives.
Karayılan said he would order his forces to lay down their weapons under United Nations supervision if Turkey agreed to a ceasefire and his other demands, Agence France-Presse reported.
But the PKK leader also raised the prospect of further trouble if Ankara did not agree to the offer. "If the Turkish government refuses to accept that, we will have to announce independence," he said.
Speaking to the BBC at a camp in the mountains of northern Iraq, Karayılan said his conditions included "an end to attacks on civilians" and to "arrests of Kurdish politicians" in eastern Turkey.
A Turkish government official told the broadcaster it was "not in the habit of commenting on statements made by terrorists."
In a separate interview, Karayılan told the Daily Telegraph on Sunday that the PKK would begin to target major Turkish cities instead of just military patrols and bases in the group’s center of operations in southeastern Turkey. The PKK leader said he had been left with no choice but to act following Turkish bombing raids on PKK bases in northern Iraq.
The British daily also quoted Karayılan as saying the PKK would soon declare "democratic autonomy" in the Kurdish regions of southeastern Anatolia. "If Turkey does not accept this, it is their problem," he said.
The PKK has stepped up its attacks inside Turkey in recent weeks.
Six Turkish soldiers were killed before dawn Tuesday in a firefight between the military and alleged members of the PKK in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Another Turkish soldier was killed the same day in a suspected PKK attack in Gürpınar, a village of the southeastern province of Van.