ANKARA, Turkey – The imprisoned leader of Turkey's main Kurdish rebel group
has warned his forces will unleash a "big war" after national elections if
Turkey refuses to negotiate to end the decades-old conflict, a pro-Kurdish news
agency reported Friday.
"Either after June 15, a meaningful negotiation begins, or a big war starts, doomsday comes," the Firat agency website said Ocalan warned, in a message through his lawyers. Turkey holds elections on June 12 and final results are expected to take several days.
Turkish leaders have confirmed communication between some state officials and Ocalan to seek a solution to end the fight by autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels but refuse to hold negotiations with the rebels, who are branded as terrorists by the United States and the European Union.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, said Friday the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, known as PKK, has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on his party's election convoy in northern Turkey. Wednesday's attack in Kastamonu province that left one policeman dead and another wounded has fueled nationalist sentiment ahead of elections.
Erdogan had left an election rally in Kastamonu by helicopter but journalists and party officials were returning to the capital Ankara in the convoy.
Erdogan did not say how he knew that the PKK claimed responsibility.
Police and para-military forces were chasing a small group of Kurdish rebels who carried out the attack, Erdogan said. The attack came hours after clashes at funerals for seven Kurdish rebels on Wednesday in the southeast where tensions still run high.
Police on Friday raided homes of dozens of Kurds and detained them for attacking the police with firebombs and stones in violent demonstrations in the cities of Hakkari and Diyarbakir in recent days, the Anatolia news agency said.
A fight between Kurdish militants and supporters of an outlawed Kurdish Islamic militant group, Hezbollah, which battled the PKK for years in the region, left one member of the Islamic group dead with gunfire on Thursday, reports said.
The mourners again clashed with some rebel supporters in Yuksekova on Friday, leaving at least two people injured, the Anatolia agency said. AP
"Either after June 15, a meaningful negotiation begins, or a big war starts, doomsday comes," the Firat agency website said Ocalan warned, in a message through his lawyers. Turkey holds elections on June 12 and final results are expected to take several days.
Turkish leaders have confirmed communication between some state officials and Ocalan to seek a solution to end the fight by autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels but refuse to hold negotiations with the rebels, who are branded as terrorists by the United States and the European Union.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, said Friday the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, known as PKK, has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on his party's election convoy in northern Turkey. Wednesday's attack in Kastamonu province that left one policeman dead and another wounded has fueled nationalist sentiment ahead of elections.
Erdogan had left an election rally in Kastamonu by helicopter but journalists and party officials were returning to the capital Ankara in the convoy.
Erdogan did not say how he knew that the PKK claimed responsibility.
Police and para-military forces were chasing a small group of Kurdish rebels who carried out the attack, Erdogan said. The attack came hours after clashes at funerals for seven Kurdish rebels on Wednesday in the southeast where tensions still run high.
Police on Friday raided homes of dozens of Kurds and detained them for attacking the police with firebombs and stones in violent demonstrations in the cities of Hakkari and Diyarbakir in recent days, the Anatolia news agency said.
A fight between Kurdish militants and supporters of an outlawed Kurdish Islamic militant group, Hezbollah, which battled the PKK for years in the region, left one member of the Islamic group dead with gunfire on Thursday, reports said.
The mourners again clashed with some rebel supporters in Yuksekova on Friday, leaving at least two people injured, the Anatolia agency said. AP
