A group of 120 influential leaders from Turkey's eastern and southeastern provinces have urged the PKK to leave the country for the sake of peace.
Leaders from the provinces of Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Şırnak and Muş made the plea in a joint press statement on Tuesday. One of the leaders, Mehmet Şirin Akçay, read the statement in Şırnak: "We want armed members to stop violence and leave the country as soon as possible to ensure peace again in the country."
Akçay added that weapons and violence were not a way to solve problems. "Our region needs peace, tranquility and common sense, not weapons."
He also said they were ready to give support to the reconciliation process with the PKK.
Furthermore, Namık Sakık, the brother of Sırrı Sakık, who was elected mayor of Ağrı from the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), which is the local affiliate of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), has recently said there is an intimate relationship between the HDP, PKK and Gülen Movement, and claimed that the PKK is backed by Iran, Syrian President Bashar Assad and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Speaking in a televised interview Namık Sakık criticized the HDP's policies since the June 7 general elections.
Stressing the importance of reconciliation through political means instead of armed clashes, Namık Sakık said: "If Dilek Öcalan [niece of imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan] enters Parliament at 25 and this is the righteous way, why do you send 17 to 18 year old Kurdish people to the mountains? Why do you instigate and send them? It is necessary to be clear."
The fighting between the PKK and the security forces saw a fragile lull for a two-and-a-half year period from early 2013 in what is publicly known as the "solution process" in an attempt to end the conflict.
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