Turkey's PKK declares truce from Sunday-report

ISTANBUL, Sep 30 (Reuters) The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast, has declared a unilateral ceasefire starting tomorrow, a pro-Kurdish news agency today said.

The PKK statement, carried on Firat news agency, was a response to a call by their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, who this week urged the guerrillas to implement an unconditional ceasefire as violence in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast increased.

The PKK began its violent campaign to create a Kurdish homeland in the southeast in 1984. More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict, which dwindled after Ocalan was captured and convicted in 1999.

Fighting flared up again after the PKK called off a unilateral ceasefire in 2004. Violence has continued despite a temporary ceasefire last year. Turkey, the European Union and the United States consider the PKK a terrorist organisation.

Reuters SY DB2154