Kurdish rebels accuse Turkish army of endangering peaceful pullout

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's Kurdish rebels have accused the army of endangering an agreed pullout of rebel fighters from the mostly Kurdish southeast, due to start on Wednesday, May 8 with surveillance drones and large-scale movements of men and equipment, Reuters said.

Top Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) commander Murat Karayilan ordered his fighters last month to begin withdrawing to bases in northern Iraq as part of a plan to end three decades of conflict with the Turkish state.

However, huge distrust remains. The PKK has not accepted a government demand that its fighters should lay down their weapons before withdrawing, fearing that they could come under attack, as they did in a previous pullback. The army has made clear that the suspicion is mutual.

The PKK said accelerated construction of military outposts and dams in southeast Turkey was also provocative. But it said it still expected the pullout to begin on time, with the first groups due in northern Iraq within a week.

Karayilan has warned that PKK fighters will retaliate if the Turkish army launches any kind of operation against them.