The president of Iraq’s northern Kurdish region has urged the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party to end more than two decades of armed struggle against Turkey.
Massoud Barzani issued a statement calling for the PKK to eliminate violence.
The statement said the administration in the autonomous Kurdish region did not believe in the use of violence as a 'doctrine' and method to achieve political objectives.
Mr Barzani condemned all terrorist activities and described the people of Kurdistan as victims of terrorism.
On Monday the PKK, which has been fighting for a self-rule in south-eastern Turkey since 1984, offered a conditional ceasefire if Turkey dropped plans to launch a large-scale military incursion into northern Iraq to flush out the rebels.
It has also emerged today that Turkish warplanes and ground troops attacked Kurdish rebel positions just inside northern Iraq between Sunday and Tuesday evening.
Yesterday, Iraq's prime minister ordered a crackdown on the PKK and said that Iraq would no longer tolerate the group.
Nuri al-Maliki said a decision had been made to close the PKK's offices and not allow them to work on Iraqi soil.
