Talks with Ocalan rejected

Istanbul - Turkey's Defence Minister rejected out of hand yesterday the possibility of negotiating with the condemned Kurdish…

Istanbul - Turkey's Defence Minister rejected out of hand yesterday the possibility of negotiating with the condemned Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan, whom he called a "monster".

Ocalan offered last week to engineer the surrender and disarmament of his Kurdistan Workers Party guerrillas, at large in the mountainous south-east where they seek autonomy. In exchange, he asked the government to pass an amnesty law that would allow the rebels to turn themselves in without fear of lengthy jail terms.

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