Kurdish separatist rebels said yesterday they had united behind the call of their condemned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to end their 15-year armed rebellion.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) statement followed reports of the rebels splitting on whether to follow Ocalan's peace moves.
"Our congress . . . has confirmed the decision of the party leader to stop the armed struggle," the statement said. The extraordinary congress, the first since Ocalan made his call for peace following his capture on February 15th last year, brought senior PKK commanders together for 20 days at a secret base thought to be in the mountains of northern Iraq or Iran.
