Turkey's DTP to hold summit with Iraqi Kurds against PKK terror

Ahmet Turk, leader of the Democratic Society Party (DTP), said the conference, which would take part in Europe or in Iraq, was agreed during a recent trip to northern Iraq.   Â

A DTP delegation last week met high-level Iraqi officials, including Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, the leader of the regional administration in northern Iraq.

"Kurds will hold a conference and discuss the conditions of a peace process," Turk told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. "Kurds have to focus on a peace process and put forward a common understanding on the issue," he added.

The PKK, which has increased its attacks on Turkish soldiers, as well as civilians in Turkey, is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.

Turkey, who also stepped up its campaign to crackdown on the PKK, has long blamed the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq for supporting the PKK.

The DTP leader said the PKK had been invited to the summit, but a spokesman for the terror organization in Iraq said it welcomed the conference but it would not attend. Turk did not say when the conference would take place.

Turk said the ending of what he called "discrimination against Kurds in Turkey would encourage the PKK to lay down arms". The Turkish government and the EU have called on the DTP to condemn PKK violence more clearly.

"The problem cannot be solved by (the PKK) resorting to weapons and cannot be solved by operations and force (by the Turkish military). This is a political problem with political solutions," he said.