In A Long And Bloody War, A Potential Breakthrough
Kurdish rebels have been fighting for nearly three decades against Turkish forces in the southeast corner of that nation. But the most prominent rebel leader said from prison Thursday that it was time for a "new era" that includes an immediate cease-fire.
Abdullah Ocalan heads the Kurdistan Workers Party, the PKK. He was captured by Turkey in 1999 and has been imprisoned on an island off Istanbul.
"We have reached the point where the guns are not at the forefront," Ocalan said in a message relayed by his supporters in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's southeast, The Associated Press reported.
"A door is opening from the armed struggle toward the democratic struggle," he added. "This is not the end. This is a new start."
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