Kurdish rebels call for one month ceasefire with Ankara

UPDATE - Forbes.com: "The political wing of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) HAS called for a one-month unilateral ceasefire with Ankara until Sept 20.

KONGRA-GEL, which claims to be the political arm of the PKK, said in the statement that the truce was being called in order to open the way for negotiations.

The Turkish authorities, which consider the PKK a terrorist organization, declined to comment on the announcement.

The PKK, also blacklisted as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union, has stepped up violence in the past few months after it called off a truce in June 2004 on the grounds that Ankara's steps to expand Kurdish freedoms were insufficient.

The PKK had said it would consider a new ceasefire if the Turkish army also stops military operations against the rebels.

About 37,000 people died between 1984-1999 as the PKK led a violent armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

The KONGRA-GEL announcement comes after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a landmark pledge last week to resolve the Kurdish conflict with 'more democracy'.

The announcement of the truce was originally to be made at a press conference by Kurdish rebel leader and KONGRA-GEL head Zubayir Aydar but the briefing was cancelled at the last moment because of 'Turkish pressure on Belgian authorities', a source close to the Kurdish group said.

A senior Turkish diplomat told AFP on Thursday that Ankara had asked Belgium to arrest Aydar, who has enjoyed political refugee status in Switzerland since 1994, another Kurdish source said. "