AFYON
Turkey's president has called on the PKK to lay down arms as Turkish intelligence officials have been conducting talks with the group's jailed leader in a bid to disarm the terrorist organization.
"Any policy can surely be pursued in a way that no harm comes to our country's unity and to our people. But first of all, those who have weapons in their hands and those who give instructions to them should do what needs to be done," Abdullah Gul told reporters Thursday during a visit in the central Turkish province of Afyonkarahisar.
Gul ruled out any stoppage to security operations against PKK unless the group disarmed, saying, "no state would bow down in the face of terrorists and everyone should understand this."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made on Wednesday a similar call to the PKK, urging them to withdraw from Turkey.
The group is recognized as a terrorist organization also by the United States and the European Union.
The conflict had cost thousands of lives for nearly three decades.
