President Gül calls on PKK to lay down arms

Turkish President Abdullah Gül has called on members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, to lay their arms down and return home.

There is already a law in place that allows militants to return back to their families provided they have not killed anyone and that they surrendered their weapons to the authorities, Gül told reporters Wednesday during an official trip to Germany after he was asked whether he would issue a new amnesty for the group’s fighters.

 “There are those who rejoined their families by leaving their weapons and approaching the authorities,” Gül was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency. “We always say this. There are also those who behave as if these ways do not exist. For this reason, I would like to call on those who are unaware [of such an option]: Let them lay down their arms, return, come over and rejoin their families.”

Gül’s call comes at a time of increased terror attacks against various targets, including civilians. Three people were killed in a bomb attack in Ankara on Tuesday, followed by two separate gun attacks in eastern Turkey by suspected PKK militants that resulted in the deaths of one police cadet and four women.

A group of nongovernmental organizations in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa also called on the PKK to lay down arms on Wednesday.

“The scourge of terror which has caused misery for thousands of youngsters in the mountains and caused thousands more to lose their lives benefits only the enemies of this land. We condemn those who have committed this act and those who supported them,” read a written statement issued by the provincial heads of the Chamber of Pharmacists, the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or MÜSİAD, and the Chambers of Engineers and Architects Union.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.


/Hurriyet Daily News/