Report: PKK considering partial truce

• Tweet

ANKARA, Turkey, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- High-profile figures from the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party are said to be discussing a peace deal with Ankara, a Turkish newspaper reports.

Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet reports that intelligence officials and top-ranking members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, known by its Kurdish initials PKK, are in peace talks. Formal talks on a PKK "decision for no action" are expected in the upcoming days in the Kurdish capital of Iraq, Erbil.

The report adds that about 100 PKK fighters are expected to leave Turkish area before the traditional spring offensive gets under way.

The expected truce is reportedly an initiative launched by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Ankara recently reached out to Ocalan to find a solution to a crisis brewing since the 1980s. The peace process comes after the killing of three high-ranking members of the separatist movement in early January in Paris.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there is no justification for terrorism in his country but the government was committed to peace initiatives with the PKK. He's said the Parisian slaying may have been an inside job staged by hard-liners trying to thwart reconciliation efforts.