Joy as Kurd rebel leader due to call Turkey truce

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - A quarter of a million Kurds gathered in southeast Turkey on Thursday expecting a call from jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan for a ceasefire in a peace process which marks the best hope yet of ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people.

In a jubilant atmosphere in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, crowds waved banners bearing pictures of Ocalan and chanted slogans for his release in anticipation of what the rebel leader has said will be a "historic call".

A huge bonfire was lit as Kurdish "Newroz" new year celebrations got underway, a soundtrack of Ocalan's past speeches playing over loudspeakers.

His announcement, to be read in Turkish and Kurdish by pro-Kurdish politicians, will follow months of talks with Turkish intelligence officers on the island prison in the Marmara Sea where Ocalan has been held since his capture by Turkish special forces in Kenya in 1999.

"War happens, but at some point you have to dress your wounds. This is our chance now," said Bedri Alat, 73. "I remember peace. My grandson does not. He does not remember when Kurds and Turks lived as brothers. This is a last chance."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has taken considerable risks since elected in 2002, breaking taboos deeprooted in a conservative establishment, not least in the military, by extending cultural and language rights to Kurds. Two years ago, to the anger of hardliners, he countenanced secret talks with the PKK in Oslo.

He has made no public comment on how authorities would react to a ceasefire, but made it clear security forces would respond to any continued attacks by a group regarded by the United States and the European Union besides Turkey as terrorist.

Ocalan's call could cement peace talks that have been edging forward since October, possibly commanding his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas to withdraw to northern Iraq where most of its several thousand rebels are based.

Such moves would lift a huge burden off Turkey, fighting the PKK since 1984 in a war which has drained state coffers, stunted development of the mainly Kurdish southeast and scarred the country's human rights record.

A settlement would bolster the NATO member's credibility as it seeks to extend influence across the Middle East, and remove a stumbling block from its path to join the European Union.

Truces have been declared and secret talks held with the PKK in the past, but expectations this time have been fuelled by the openness with which the process has been conducted.

Leftist militants launched bomb and missile strikes on Turkish government and ruling party offices on Tuesday night in attacks which Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said were aimed at derailing the peace process.

Late on Wednesday, a small bomb exploded in front of a shop in an Istanbul suburb, damaging a vehicle and shattering windows, Dogan news agency reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"Peace won't come just because the prime minister says so. A ceasefire isn't enough to guarantee my rights and freedoms," said Mustafa Guner, 22, a literature student at Diyarbakir's Dicle University, sipping tea at a nearby cafe in a restored caravanserai.

"I am hopeful, but I am also wary and I am anxious."

HARD ROAD AHEAD

If a ceasefire holds, the path to disarmament and the reintegration of militants will still be long and vulnerable to sabotage. The fate of Ocalan, "Apo" to his allies, also remains uncertain, but any move to release him could be strongly opposed by critics who see any settlement as threatening Turkish unity.

The prospect of talks with the PKK would long have outraged many Turks who revile Ocalan and hold him personally responsible for the bloodshed.

Thursday's scenes, broadcast live on television, of people waving PKK flags and images of Ocalan as they streamed into a large field on the edge of Diyarbakir would have been unthinkable even a year ago. The very appearance of PKK symbols, let alone images of 'Apo', would have prompted arrests.

An upsurge in violence last Summer and mass roundups of Kurdish activists appeared to lend momentum to the nascent peace process. Turkish intelligence officers began meeting Ocalan in October on his prison island in the Marmara Sea. In November, he proved his continued authority by ordering the end of a hunger strike by hundreds of jailed Kurds.

Growing Kurdish assertiveness in neighbouring northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and in war-torn Syria have only added to the sense of urgency.

"We are ready for both peace and war," a group of PKK youths in militant fatigues, their faces wrapped in headscarves, said from the stage, their statement a reminder of a widely-held view that the conflict could flare up again if this peace bid fails.

At the cafe in Diyarbakir, student Resan Erdogan, 25, a Kurd who shares the prime minister's surname, said a PKK withdrawal too early in the peace process would be disastrous for Kurds.

"The PKK is our insurance. Any rights we have gained are because they fought for them," he said as the sound of fighter jets from the city's air base thundered above, a reminder of the heavy military presence Turkey maintains in the region.

Abdullah Demirbas, a Diyarbakir district mayor, said there were likely to be more attempts to sabotage the process ahead.

"There are deep forces who want war and they are pervasive. They feed off blood," he told Reuters.

"The PKK, Ocalan and the government must be brave... There is massive social support for this process. There is hope, albeit restrained. That stems from disappointments in the past."

Ocalan, long reviled in the media as 'baby killer', was first sentenced to hang after his capture in Kenya, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after Turkey abolished the death penalty in pursuit of European Union membership.

Demirbas said this was a last chance for peace.

"The next generation is like a storm. It is more radical. It has never known peace between Kurds and Turks. Now you can still convince many of them, we can still win them over. But if we lose them this time, they will never listen to us again."

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

(Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Peter Graff)