The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on Monday said it had withdrawn its fighters from areas in the Zap region, along the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s border with Turkey, to other areas as part of a peace process between the outlawed group and Ankara.
“The movement’s leadership announces that guerrilla forces, which were at risk of conflict in the Zap region … had withdrawn to other areas,” the PKK-affiliated Firat news agency said. “We believe that this new step will serve as a solution to the Kurdish issue and the peace and democratisation of Turkey.”
The announcement comes after a historic decision last month to withdraw all forces from Turkey to the Kurdistan Region and the group’s headquarters in the Qandil Mountains.
In the statement, the PKK said that its decision to withdraw from Zap is part of “conflict-preventing measures in areas along the border where there was a risk of conflict.” The area has been subjected to clashes and strikes in recent years. It also has symbolic importance for the PKK as the place where its headquarters were initially located before moving further east to the Qandil Mountains.
“As of the evening of November 16, our forces in the Zap region that had been at risk of conflict have withdrawn to other suitable areas,” the statement said. The group also described its latest move as a “significant practical contribution” to the peace process, calling on Turkey to follow suit.
The developments are aimed at advancing a peace process under way with Turkey to its second phase after the group’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan in May called for disarming and disbanding. The group is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and European Union.
In July, a small group of PKK fighters began the process by giving up their weapons at a ceremony in northern Iraq to mark the end of their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.
Founded in the late 1970s by Ocalan, the PKK took up arms in 1984, carrying out a string of attacks on Turkish soil that led to a conflict that has cost more than 40,000 lives.
But in May, the PKK said it would switch to a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with the call by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999.
Benefits of first-time home buyers’ scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Genesis G80 2020 5.0-litre Royal Specs
Engine: 5-litre V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 505Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L/100km
Price: Dh260,500
PREMIER LEAGUE STATS
Romelu Lukaku’s goalscoring statistics in the Premier League
Season/club/appearances (substitute)/goals
2011/12 Chelsea: 8(7) – 0
2012/13 West Brom (loan): 35(15) – 17
2013/14 Chelsea: 2(2) – 0
2013/14 Everton (loan): 31(2) – 15
2014/15 Everton: 36(4) – 10
2015/16 Everton: 37(1) – 18
2016/17 Everton: 37(1) – 25
Squad: Majed Naser, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Walid Abbas, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Mohammed Marzouq (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Khalid Essa, Muhanad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Ahmed Barman, Amer Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman (Al Ain), Ali Khaseif, Fares Juma, Mohammed Fawzi, Khalfan Mubarak, Mohammed Jamal, Ahmed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Ahmed Rashid, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Wahda), Tariq Ahmed, Mahmoud Khamis, Khalifa Mubarak, Jassim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Yousef Saeed (Sharjah), Suhail Al Nubi (Baniyas)
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Price: From Dh149,900
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
Libya’s Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country’s gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
WandaVision
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Matt Shakman
Rating: Four stars
