6 PKK members surrender to Turkish military

Six members of the rebel group the Kurdish Workers' Party, or PKK, surrendered to the Turkish military in southeastern Turkey on Wednesday, private Dogan news agency reported Thursday. The six PKK members coming from the PKK camps in northern Iraq surrendered to the Turkish security forces at the Habur Border Gate in the town of Silopi in Sirnak province, said the report, adding that the PKK members were brought to a local police station. The Turkish authorities started peace negotiations with the PKK in October 2012, which led to a ceasefire in March 2013, and PKK fighters started to return in May 2013 to their strongholds in northern Iraq. The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and other countries, took up arms in 1984 in an attempt to create an ethnic homeland for the Kurds in southeastern Turkey. Since then, over 40, 000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.