PKK not ready to disarm, says official / Öcalan’s 4 Letter essentials
KURDISTAN TRIBUNE – 26.1.2013 – A PKK spokesperson today dismissed reports that the PKK is ready to lay down its weapons. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ahmet Deniz told Halwati newspaper that the PKK Armed Council is unhappy with Turkish media reports claiming that a four-point agreement was reached in recent talks between jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and the MIT (Turkish intelligence) which included a commitment for the PKK to immediately disarm.
Dinez said this was an attempt by the Turkish state to dismantle the whole PKK organisation. His response reflects widespread distrust among Kurds about the real intentions of prime minister Erdogan and the Turkish state. Turkey will not achieve lasting peace through attempts to force the PKK into one-sided, unilateral disarmament. The PKK’s armed struggle is a product, not the cause, of decades of brutal state repression against Kurds.
Erdogan should learn from successful internal peace negotiations in countries where there was international, third party involvement – for example, the involvement of ANC leaders and others in the peace process in Ireland, leading to disarmament by the Provisional IRA, and the El Salvador peace accord, reached with UN involvement.
Kurds want lasting peace – and that means peace with justice.