Turkish government rejected ceasefire with PKK -opposition politician
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group wanted a ceasefire with the Turkish government a few months ago but it was rejected by Ankara, the leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party said on Wednesday. "A few months ago, we were in contact with Qandil (PKK) in an effort to return to the negotiating table. The […]The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group wanted a ceasefire with the Turkish government a few months ago but it was rejected by Ankara, the leader of Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition party said on Wednesday.
"A few months ago, we were in contact with Qandil (PKK) in an effort to return to the negotiating table. The government knew that we were working for this but the government rejected it," Selahattin Demirtas, co-head of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said at a news conference in Istanbul.
The 2-1/2-year ceasefire between the outlawed PKK and the government broke down in July, dragging Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast into some of its worst fighting since the height of the insurgency in the 1990s.
