Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is calling on his group to consider ending a three-decade uprising against Turkey. Öcalan is serving a life sentence after leading the PKK in its struggle for autonomy in Turkey’s southeast. Peace talks have faltered since their launch in late 2012. In a statement read to tens of thousands of supporters, Öcalan called for a formal congress to consider ending the armed struggle, but stopped short of declaring an immediate halt.

Sirri Süreyya Önder, reading message from Abdullah Öcalan: “We have the duty to kick off a new phase. I regard it necessary and historic for PKK to hold a congress to end a 40-year-old armed struggle against Turkey and designate new social and strategic moves for this new period as articulated in a joint declaration.”