Kurds should end Turkey conflict: Ocalan

Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has called for Kurds to hold a congress to bring an end to the 40-year armed struggle in Turkey waged by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"A congress should be organised to bring an end to the 40-year struggle against the Turkish Republic," Ocalan said in a message for Kurdish New Year celebrations.

The message was read out in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir by pro-Kurdish MP Sirri Sureyya Onder, who hailed it as a "new era" between Turkey and Kurds.