PKK militants laying down arms, returning to urban life

12 August 2013 /TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL – Many Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists who laid down their weapons following a call for a cease-fire from the terrorist group’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Öcalan in March are in cities and looking to start new — and normal — lives, according to intelligence reports.

On Sunday, the Taraf daily reported on the content of intelligence reports from Turkish security forces. The reports say that about 25 percent of PKK terrorists had pulled out of Turkey as of July in response to Öcalan’s call, which was made as part of a settlement process launched in October 2012 in the form of talks between Öcalan and government officials.

The reports also say that the withdrawal of PKK militants is likely to accelerate the government’s timetable for a package of new democratization reforms.But the reports, according to Taraf, also said that the PKK wouldn’t pull out of the Dağlıca, Zağros, Ağrı and Tunceli areas until the last minute. Though Turkish officials have asked the PKK to start withdrawing its militants from these regions as well, the terrorist group treats them as a “strategic zone” and has put off abandoning them.

The withdrawal has accelerated, however, according to reports. In May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that only 15 percent of the militants on Turkish soil had left. The intelligence reports on the PKK withdrawal, which come from the gendarmerie and the National Police Department, put the number at 25 percent in July. The reports say that not all militants are back in cities, as many of them are attending “training” in camps in northern Iraq. The reports also note that the withdrawal is moving at a slower pace than the government expected.

Intelligence units attribute the delay to the fact that the PKK is still waiting for the government to make good on its promise for democratization reforms. The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has been saying that the government has yet to take the steps to address some of the Kurd’s demands that would accelerate the settlement process.

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-323209-pkk-militants-laying-down-arms-returning-to-urban-life.html