Senior BDP official: PKK will begin to withdraw fighters by April 25

23 April 2013 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM, İSTANBUL – A senior official of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) has said the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will begin the withdrawal of all of its members from Turkish soil by April 25.

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, who was part of the BDP delegation that had a round of talks with the imprisoned leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, as part of the ongoing peace settlement the Turkish government launched to solve the decades-old Kurdish dispute, said late on Tuesday that the PKK will announce the withdrawal of its forces on April 25.

Önder said PKK chief commander Murat Karayılan will hold a press conference to announce the details of the withdrawal. Ankara has been holding talks with Öcalan, who maintains his influence over the PKK and its fighters, as part of an ongoing settlement process to end the decades-old conflict since October.