ANKARA, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Friday that peace-related laws were needed for a transition to democratic integration in Turkey, in a statement read out a year after he called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to end its decades-old insurgency and disband.
That landmark call fuelled hopes for an end to a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people, sowed deep divisions and stymied development in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, but progress has been slow. Ocalan’s statement was read out at a press conference by the pro-Kurdish DEM Party.
(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer )
