ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The imprisoned leader of a Kurdish rebel group fighting Turkey has called for a mass mobilization of all Kurds against the Islamic State militant group which is fighting Kurdish forces in Syria.
In a message relayed through his lawyer late Monday, Abdullah Ocalan said: “I call on all Kurdish people to start an all-out resistance against this high-intensity war.”
Ocalan leads the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has long fought Turkey for autonomy. Ocalan’s group is affiliated with a Kurdish party in Syria whose armed wing is fighting the Islamic State group in northern Syria, near the Turkish border.
Kurds dominate a region that straddles Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Ocalan also accused Turkey of stalling peace negotiations with his group aimed at ending a three decade-long conflict.
