One soldier killed in attack in eastern Turkey

Suspected members of an outlawed group opened fire on a military vehicle in eastern Turkey, killing a soldier and wounding three others, the Anatolia news agency reported Monday.

The vehicle came under attack from the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in a rural area in the Van province, the report said.

Meanwhile, jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has sent peace proposals to Ankara aimed at ending 26 years of deadly conflict, a senior PKK member was quoted as saying Monday.

Öcalan, who retains his influence despite being behind bars, submitted three “protocols” to officials who met him in prison last month, Murat Karayılan, a senior name in the PKK, said in an interview with the Milliyet daily.

The papers call for constitutional reforms to grant the Kurds self-governance and Kurdish-language education as well as “conditions for total exclusion of violence and for disarmament on the basis of mutual forgiveness,” Karayılan said.

Öcalan also asked to be allowed to meet with anyone in prison “so that the process can function properly,” he said.

“The state delegation that met with Öcalan a month ago did not reject those protocols. They said they would take them up with the state and the government... We are waiting for a response,” Karayılan said.

“2011 should be the year of settlement. Otherwise, we will resist. We are at a very critical juncture,” he told Milliyet.

He spoke of a “window of opportunity” following the June 12 elections in which 36 pro-Kurdish candidates won parliamentary seats. He lamented however “a heavy blow to anticipations” when the authorities last week stripped one of the deputies of his seat and refused to release five others who were elected from jail, where they await trial for links to the PKK.

Karayılan spoke to Milliyet in the Qandil mountains of neighboring northern Iraq, a Kurdish-run region where the PKK has long taken refuge.


/Hurriyet Daily News/