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2,000 join PKK in past three months

ANKARA, Turkey, June 15 (UPI) -- About 2,000 people have joined the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party in the past three months, amid an agreement to end to terrorism in Turkey, officials say.

In an efforts to end a decades-old terrorism problem in Turkey, last year the country's the Justice and Development Party held meetings with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a 14-year jail term on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, Today's Zaman reported.

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The two sides reached an agreement to establish a Kurdish state, which the PKK has been fighting for since it took up arms with Turkey in 1984, and for the PKK to stop its fighting in Turkey.

However, Today's Zaman said that during the past three months, about 2,000 people -- 850 of who have been university students -- have joined the terrorist organization.

The PKK says it has about half of its 7,000 terrorists in Turkey and the other half at its in northern Iraq, where it maintains camps in mountain areas.

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