A Kurdish separatist group announced a three-day ceasefire with Turkey on Monday, a spokesman for the rebels said, after several days of Turkish air strikes against their bases in north Iraq. “We will stop all military operations against the Turkish army and government” during Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival that follows the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) spokesman Dozdar Hammo told AFP.
However, the rebels would “defend themselves” against any Turkish military attack, Hammo said, speaking by telephone. Eid is expected to start on Tuesday for Sunni Muslims. The temporary ceasefire announcement came a day after the deputy chief of the most powerful political party in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, called on separatist groups in the area to lay down their arms.
