The Arab Times reports a rebel commander urged Kurdish youths Saturday to join the ranks of its militants as the insurgency in Turkey’s southeast marked its 25th year, a news agency close to the rebels reported.“Young people should know their place is in the mountains, in the field of action... They should be at the forefront, with the defence forces,” said Nurettin Sofi (photo), a senior member of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), quoted by the Firat news agency.
Sufi said the rebels would heed peace proposals that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is expected to announce and welcomed an intensified debate in Turkey on how the conflict should be peacefully resolved. He warned, however, that “we should take precautions not to fall in a trap,” Firat reported. Ocalan, serving a life sentence since 1999, was expected to announce “a roadmap for a democratic solution” Saturday, the 25th anniversary of the first PKK attack.
But his lawyers, who visited him in prison Friday, said Ocalan had not yet completed the proposals.
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