The PKK has declared a unilateral ceasefire, the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency has reported. The truce is to take effect tomorrow. PKK terrorists would not use their weapons unless Turkish troops fired on them, the agency reported. The PKK's attacks in Turkey has claimed more than 30,000 lives since 1984.
The declaration came after the PKK's jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, called on Thursday for the organization to seek a peaceful solution with Turkey. The Turkish government has previously said it will pursue the Kurdish group until it is eliminated or surrenders, and on Friday, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected Ocalan's call for a ceasefire.
A spate of bomb attacks hit Turkey over the past month, some of them blamed on a group called the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, regarded as an offshoot of the PKK. As violent attacks by the PKK have escalated in recent weeks, Turkey has been talking tougher than ever, even threatening military intervention in northern Iraq where the group has its bases.
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