The jailed leader of Turkey’s largest rebel Kurd group has called for it to disarm and end to its thirty year armed struggle. <br /><br /> Abdullah Ocalan said the main goal now is to establish a democratic solution. <br /><br /> In a statement read out by another PKK member, he invited members to attend an extraordinary meeting in spring to ratify the decision. <br /><br /> The Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan,<br />welcomed the call, but urged caution:<br /><br /> “Disarmament was a very significant expectation for us but I have to stress that those who have to lay down their arms are the members of this terrorist organisation.”<br /><br /> The PKK is demanding greater autonomy and cultural rights for Turkey’s estimated 15 million Kurds.<br /><br /> The armed insurgence has claimed more than 40,000 lives since it started in 1984.
