BALIKESIR
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned that there could be attempts to sabotage government's efforts to disarm PKK terrorists in a bid to end the decades of conflict that killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey.
"Unless we make a statement, and confirm, all rumors are lies and they are baseless. This is a clear attempt to sabotage by certain circles who do not want Turkey's development," Erdogan told a rally of his Justice and Development (AK) Party in the northwestern province of Balikesir.
The Turkish premier was referring to alleged contents that leaked to press earlier this week over a meeting between PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and lawmakers from the opposition Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP.
Three BDP lawmakers met with Ocalan last week at an island prison off Istanbul as part of efforts to disarm the PKK.
Erdogan slammed reports as "dark operations and traps through the media," and said, "the process is a critical one."
The leaked report puts Ocalan as telling BDP lawmakers about details over a withdrawal of PKK terrorists from the Turkish soil, prisoners linked to the PKK and over the writing of a new constitution in Turkey.
In a separate development Saturday, a senior BDP official said efforts were underway for the release of a group of Turkish citizens including soldiers and civil servants who are held hostage by PKK terrorists.
Speaking in a press meeting in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, BDP Deputy Chairperson Gulten Kisanak said the hostages might be released in a week or in ten days.
