Kurdish rebel leader calls for Turkey truce

Though there was a cautious response from the Turkish government,the announcement at a Kurdish spring festival was met with joy from the crowd. People sang and danced,waved rebel flags and banners with images of Ocalan and cheered at the prospect of an end to a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

Turkey announced in December that it was talking to Ocalan with the aim of persuading his Kurdistan Workers Party,or PKK,to disarm. The group is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

In his message read by pro-Kurdish legislators in the Kurdish and Turkish languages,Ocalan said: We have reached the point where the guns must be silenced and where ideas must speak. A new era has started,where it is politics,not guns,which is at the forefront.

We have reached the stage where our armed elements need to retreat beyond the border, Ocalans message continued.

Despite his 14-year incarceration in a prison island off Istanbul,Ocalan still wields power over his rebel group. PKK commanders based in northern Iraq have declared support for the peace initiative and the fighters were expected to heed Ocalans call.

Nevertheless,Turkeys Interior Minister Muammer Guler sounded a note of caution. The language was one of peace but we must see how it is implemented, the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Guler as saying.

Kurdish rebels have declared ceasefires in the past but these were ignored by the state,which vowed to fight the PKK until the end.