Kurdish fighters have begun withdrawing from Turkey into their stronghold in Iraq, Kurdish sources said Wednesday, in a major step towards ending a decades-long conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people. The pullout is the first visible sign that months of fragile talks between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) could succeed in ending 29 years of guerrilla war. "We know that they have started moving," Selahattin Demirtas, a pro-Kurdish lawmaker actively involved in the process, told AFP.
About 2,000 rebel fighters are expected to begin leaving Turkey on foot, travelling through the mountainous border zone to reach their safe havens in the inhospitable Qandil mountains in northern Iraq. There they will join 5,000 fellow militants at the command base which has been used as a springboard for attacks against Turkish security forces. Ankara did not confirm the start of the pullout but Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said: "We are following the process closely.
"It is hard to say with precision what is happening at what time," Arinc said in televised remarks. "What matters to us is the result, and it looks like we are getting there." In the meanwhile, parliament passed Wednesday a list of candidates selected by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for a commission tasked with overseeing the peace process. Opposition lawmakers who refused to appoint candidates for the commission left the parliament floor in a show of protest, accusing the government of co-operation with the PKK.