UN chief hails withdrawal call of Kurdish armed group from Turkey

UNITED NATIONS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday welcomed the call by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group based in northern Iraq, for a ceasefire and withdrawal of its forces from the Turkish territory.

"This is a positive step toward putting an end to the deadly conflict that has brought much suffering and grief to the people of Turkey," Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said in response to a press questions.

"The secretary-general hopes that this call will be fully implemented and that it will result in a lasting peaceful settlement," the spokesman said.

The secretary-general said that the United Nations stands prepared to support the people of Turkey in what he called an "important process," Nesirky added.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey, has called for a truce after years of war, reports said on Thursday.

Ocalan also urged his PKK fighters to withdraw from Turkey, in a message read out to cheers during Kurdish New Year celebrations in the city of Diyarbakir.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan cautiously welcomed the call.

More than 40,000 people have reportedly died in the 30-year fight for an ethnic Kurdish homeland in the southeast part of Turkey.

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