PKK's senior leader Cemil Bayık said they are ready for a new ceasefire with the Turkish state after almost three months of deadly violence, in an interview with AFP at its stronghold in northern Iraq on Friday.

"We are ourselves ready for a ceasefire from right now," Cemil Bayik said.

The government has intensified its counterterror operations following the recent attacks carried out by the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.

Meanwhile, police detained 16 suspects on Friday as part of an anti-terrorism operation carried out against the PKK in the provinces of Adıyaman and Iğdır. In Adıyaman, seven people were arrested in the operation carried out against the PKK's youth branch, the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H).

Nine others were arrested in Iğdır, including Iğdır Deputy Mayor Şaziye Önder and Mehmet Gültekin, who is the mayor of the Tuzluca district.

Suspects reportedly set up tents and formed human shields in August to prevent operations against and protect PKK terrorists in the district of Korhan.

Turkey has been hit by violence since a suicide bomb attack by a suspected Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) supporter killed 32 activists in Suruç on July 20. Formed in 1978, the PKK was fighting the government for an independent state until the early 2000s. The group then shifted its goal to autonomy in the predominately Kurdish regions of Turkey. The PKK announced on July 11 that the cease-fire, which was declared in a message from imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in 2013, had ended.

According to military sources, 918 PKK members have been killed in airstrikes on PKK hideouts and camps in northern Iraq.

The PKK is also accused of using civilians as human shields in its camps.