IRBIL
PKK terrorists are set to begin withdrawing from Turkey on May 8, one of the heads of the terrorist organization said Thursday.
Murat Karayilan made the announcement in a press conference held at the Qandil Mountain in northern Iraq.
Karayilan said groups of PKK terrorists would withdraw gradually from Turkey to bases in northern Iraq.
He said the terrorists would "withdraw on their own initiative and by using the routes they have used before without allowing any chance for clashes."
Karayilan also described what he called a three-phase "democratic solution process," saying the withdrawal of PKK terrorists was the first phase.
He said the second phase would include constitutional reforms and the third would the phase of "normalization."
Karayilan also asked for "necessary understanding" from the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq, where PKK terrorists would retreat.
The withdrawal announcement follows a call by PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan for ceasefire as part of talks with Turkish intelligence officials to end nearly three decades of armed conflict that killed tens of thousands of people.
