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Ocalan

August 25, 1999
Web posted at: 8:50 a.m. EDT (1250 GMT)

ANKARA, Turkey -- Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey said Wednesday that last week's devastating earthquake had prompted them to begin a promised troop withdrawal a week early.

"To unilaterally stop the war at this time of heavy disaster is the greatest support to the state and people of Turkey," said a statement from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The statement was carried by the German-based DEM news agency.

Any further clashes between rebels and government troops, the PKK statement said, "do not originate with us."

The PKK said earlier this month that it would transform from a guerrilla group into a political organization. It promised a unilateral cease-fire and a withdrawal.

The PKK's jailed founder, Abdullah Ocalan, ordered the rebels to end their armed struggle for Kurdish autonomy by September 1. Ocalan was captured earlier this year and sentenced to death for treason. He is being held in an island prison in the Sea of Marmara.

Turkey considers the PKK terrorists, and has refused to negotiate with the guerrillas. Some 37,000 people, mostly Kurds, have been killed in the 15-year conflict.

The PKK also criticized Turkey's response to last week's earthquake, which has killed at least 12,500 people and left thousands more homeless. The rebel group said the government's ability to cope with a natural disaster was hampered by the degree of its focus on the guerrilla war.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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