Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — The Turkish intelligence community has determined that up to
2,000 Kurdish rebels were operating in the country.

Security sources said the intelligence community was ordered to issue an
assessment of how many operatives of the Kurdish Workers Party were deployed
in Turkey. They said the community estimated the number at between 1,500 and
2,000 in wake of a PKK offer to withdraw.

“Perhaps they will go to Iraq, perhaps to Syria, or perhaps to Europe,
particularly the Scandinavian countries,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan said. “I cannot know that.”

So far, the military has denied reports that the PKK was already
withdrawing forces from Turkey. But Turkish sources reported that scores of suspected Kurdish fighters left Turkey in late March for neighboring Iraq and Syria.

“The thing I know is that when they go, the atmosphere of my country
will change when we realize the economic boom in the east [after the
withdrawal],” Erdogan said in a television interview on March 29.

The sources said the PKK has reduced operations over the last few weeks.
They cited a call by PKK commander in northern Iraq, Murat Karayilan, who
confirmed a ceasefire with Ankara.

  Kurdish rebels reportedly withdrawing from Turkey, Kurdish Workers Party, Murat Karayilan, Recep Erdogan