‘Armed Struggle Is Over,’ Kurdish Rebels Say
The Kurdish rebel group that waged a 15-year war against Turkey announced a name change and shift in strategy, saying it now wants to campaign peacefully for greater Kurdish rights.
“The armed struggle is over,” Riza Erdogan, European spokesman of the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress, or Kadek, said at a news conference in Brussels. He said Kadek would replace the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
Turkey has already denounced the widely expected move as an effort by the PKK to gain favor with the European Union, which is debating whether to include the group on a list of terrorist organizations.
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