PKK separatists skeptical of initiative

A reclusive senior member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, said he does not believe the government's Kurdish initiative is sincere, in an interview with the France-based Agence France-Presse.

Murat Karayılan said Ankara's promises of reform are a "comedy" and an attempt to "deceive" the Kurds and the international community.

"It is just a show. The mentality remains the same – refusing to recognize the Kurdish people's identity, refusing to recognize them as interlocutors," Karayılan told AFP at the PKK base in the Kandil Mountains.

The government launched an initiative in recent months to improve Kurdish rights in a bid to end 25 years of bloodshed.

But it rejects dialogue with the PKK, which it, along with the United States and the European Union have classified a terrorist group, urging the separatists to either surrender or face the army.

Karayilan insisted Turkey should end military action, negotiate with Kurdish representatives on the terms of settlement, grant the Kurds constitutional recognition and free jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence for treason since 1999.

"We trust our leader Öcalan. If a dialogue begins with him, the process will advance," he said.