Turkey — A Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast announced a one-month cease-fire Friday and said it planned to pursue indirect negotiations with the government.
The Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, said it was ordering its forces to hold fire until Sept. 20 - a dramatic step following a string of bombings at Aegean resorts claimed by militants and ambushes of Turkish troops in the southeast.
But the rebels added that they would defend themselves if attacked by Turkish forces.
Turkey, which hopes to open membership negotiations with the European Union on Oct. 3, is under pressure to seek a political solution to the conflict, which has claimed the lives of 37,000 people and has battered the country's southeast since the rebels took up arms for autonomy in 1984.
During a recent visit to Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government had made mistakes in the region. He promised to bring investment in education, housing and health care to the southeast and to improve unemployment, which in some cities stands at more than 50 percent.
Kartal said his group's offer of a cease-fire was a response to Erdogan's remarks - and calls by Kurdish and Turkish intellectuals for a halt to violence.
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