Kurds back ceasefire, call on state to follow

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 31: In the ''Republic'' shanty town, children with toy guns play rebel against soldier, but their parents hope a ceasefire by separatist guerrillas will finally bring peace to Turkey's southeast.

''We all pray the violence will stop,'' said Hasan Cetin, 60, who like hundreds of Kurds here fled his village to escape the pressures of a decades-old conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the army.

''They (the PKK) fight with the state and we, the poor people, are always stuck in the middle,'' Cetin said.

''If there is no more fighting the economy in the southeast will improve and we will have jobs and be able to leave these slums. But the state must do its part to end the conflict.'' The PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, declared a unilateral ceasefire on October 1. The move was dismissed as a publicity stunt by the central government and army.

But in the southeast's largest city Diyarbakir, politicians, intellectuals and residents welcomed the PKK action.

''This ceasefire is different because conditions on the ground are different. I believe it can be permanent and that guns can be finally put down,'' said Sezgin Tanrikulu, a leading human rights lawyer and head of Diyarbakir's Bar Association.

Analysts have said the ceasefire offers an opportunity to halt a 22-year-old conflict which has killed more than 30,000 people but they have warned that political steps must be taken to solve the Kurdish problem.

Turkey is required by the European Union to improve Kurdish rights as part of a membership process which began a year ago.

Brussels is expected to criticise Ankara's action on this in a progress report on November 8.

WEARY OF WAR

In the southeast, some observers say the ceasefire shows Kurds are tired of violence.

''Kurds have been saying democracy must be pursued and the PKK saw this and realised their position was getting worse as the belief in democracy was getting stronger,'' Abdurrahman Kurt, chairman of the ruling AK Party in Diyarbakir province, said.

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who was captured in 1999, called for a unilateral ceasefire in late September. Violence had largely subsided after he was detained, but it flared again after the PKK called off another unilateral ceasefire in 2004.

The latest truce came amid a diplomatic push by Turkey to break up the PKK, and a military offensive by the army, NATO's second largest, in the southeast.

Hawkish Armed Forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit has vowed to fight the PKK, which still has considerable support in the southeast, until the last guerrilla is eradicated. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is under pressure to crack down on the PKK to stem rising nationalism ahead of elections next year. His AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, fears concessions on Kurdish rights or looking soft on the PKK will weaken the party at the ballot box next year.

''We (non governmental organisations, intellectuals, local politicians) have to work to keep this ceasefire in place until the elections, and then the government will have a chance to work on it,'' Tanrikulu said.

Politicians in Diyarbakir say small steps have been taken to meet Kurdish demands on rights, such as allowing limited Kurdish television broadcasts and teaching Kurdish in private classes.

But for many Kurds these changes have not addressed the deeper disconnect they feel exists between the southeast and Ankara, dating back to the foundation of the Turkish republic on the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

''Whenever Kurds want to use their language, culture or ask for more rights, Turks remember the Ottoman story of losing their lands and then they panic,'' said Seyhmus Diken, a writer and adviser to Diyarbakir's Metropolitan Municipality.

''Mentalities have to change,'' he told Reuters.

HEAL WOUNDS

The AK Party's Kurt says local politicians are trying to mend fences between Turks and Kurds.

''Around 40,000 people have died so if you can't repair their hearts now it will be even tougher in the future,'' he said. ''We must repair the mistakes. If someone went to the mountains (to join the PKK) their families should not be punished.'' The government has pledged financial support for families uprooted by the army's scorched-earth campaign against villages seen as supporting the PKK in the 1990s.

But those affected say little is being done on the ground. Deep poverty has fuelled the conflict in a region that has failed to attract investment despite pledges by successive governments to boost development.

''Families who had members jailed for being part of the PKK are excluded from the state and from benefits,'' said Aziz Aksahin, a 56-year-old unemployed teacher who was released from prison last year after serving 12 years for being a PKK member.

Rasit Tekdemir, whose six sons joined the PKK, is sceptical anything will really change. The former farmer now scrapes a living for his daughters and wife as a fumigator.

''I had a house in Ergani. I left everything behind, look now at the condition of this place,'' he said, gesturing to his living room where the only piece of value was a television set.

''If there is a good ceasefire followed by a general amnesty then my sons can return home and help me here but I doubt it. Only the EU can really pressure the Turkish state,'' he said.

Reuters