Istanbul - The convicted Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan, has called on his Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to end its armed struggle and withdraw its forces from Turkish territory. "I call upon the PKK to end the armed struggle and withdraw their forces [to territory] outside the borders [of Turkey], for the sake of peace, from September 1st, 1999," Ocalan said in a statement released yesterday. "I express my belief that in this way a new stage of dialogue and conciliation will develop," he added.
Meanwhile, Turkish authorities said yesterday that Kurdish rebels had attacked a minibus, killing six villagers who were returning home from their fields. Security forces in Diyarbakir province said four men and two children died and seven people were wounded when the PKK guerrillas raked the minibus with machine-gun fire.