Turkish government expects PKK cease-fire before March 21

The Turkish government has expressed hopes that Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), could call for a cease-fire before March 21, Nevruz, as part of the country’s peace process

, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“If the process continues on a positive course like it did initially, before March 21, a declaration, communication or – like how PKK members say – an instruction may come from Öcalan,” Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç is quoted by Hurriyet as saying yesterday in an interview with private news channel A Haber.

“I assume that this process cannot be related to an immediate disarmament, but they should certainly make a decision about a cease-fire. Afterwards, I hope there will be an announcement or a proclamation which says that ‘weapons should be silenced from now on,'" he is quoted as saying.