Dialogue the answer, says PKK

"First the weapons have to fall silent. No attacks should be launched, and then we should talk to each other. Not with guns but through dialogue," said Murat Karayılan from the PKK’s base in northern Iraq’s Kandil mountain range.

It is believed that Karayılan has run the PKK from Kandil since the arrest and jailing of Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK, in 1999. Öcalan is serving a life sentence. Karayılan said the opportunity for peace was missed in 1993 due to a lack of political will at the time. "We want the bloodshed to stop because years pass and we keep returning to the same point. The PKK won’t be finished by military means," said Karayılan.

He said the way to peace is by first silencing the weapons before talking about laying down arms and then starting a dialogue. He said a joint commission could be established somewhere to bring together a group of wise men to discuss matters, said Karayılan. In response to the deaths of 10 soldiers in the Southeast last week despite the PKK announcing a unilateral cease-fire until June, Karayılan said: "We are sorry about that, too. It wasn’t planned from the center.

It was a local-level initiative. Such actions are taken in self-defense." The PKK took up arms in 1984. Turkey, the United States and the European Union list the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, one more soldier was killed in southeastern Turkey yesterday after stepping on a landmine, the Doğan news agency reported.