Kurd leader Ocalan calls for congress to end Turkey armed struggleAnkara, 21 March 2015 (MIA) - The jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan has renewed a call for his fighters to end their armed struggle in Turkey.
In a message read out at a huge rally marking the Kurdish new year, Ocalan called for a congress to decide on abandoning the insurgency, the BBC reports.
His Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has been waging a 30-year armed struggle for Kurdish independence.
He called a ceasefire in 2013 and there are growing hopes of a long-term deal.
More than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds, have died in fighting for a Kurdish homeland in Turkey's south-east.
Ocalan has been in prison since 1999, serving a life sentence for treason.
His message was delivered instead by Sirri Sureyya Onder, a pro-Kurdish politician who visited Ocalan in jail on Thursday.
Hundreds of thousands attended the celebration in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish-populated city in eastern Turkey, with many carrying images of the imprisoned leader.
A ceasefire announced by Ocalan in 2013 still holds despite ongoing mistrust between the two sides. lk/17:36
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No risk for citizens after Bulgaria ammo warehouse blast
Sofia, 22 March 2015 (MIA) - The situation in the village of Iganovo, Southern Bulgaria, is under control after a series of explosions that rocked an ammo warehouse on Saturday evening, officials say.
Earlier, it was reported that the incident had taken place at a plant of the VMZ Sopot ammunition manufacturer, which is managed by Bulgaria's Economy Ministry.
No-one has been injured or hurt following the explosions, local media report.
At about 19:30 EET (17:30 GMT) one of the facilities burst into flames after an explosion, and others followed suit due to the impact of the blast, preliminary information suggests.
Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov told Darik Radio on Sunday that the area was still sealed off, and that minor flames were still raging but firefighters have largely put out the fire. No inspectors will enter the area to look into the causes for the incident before 24 hours have passed after the incident, in line with safety requirements.
The area around the warehouse is currently sealed off. Ministers of economy and defense arrived at the scene Saturday night, with the former, Bozhidar Lukarski, making clear there was "no ground" for panic.
He evoked memories of a 1978 blast that in his words many people recall with fears.
Alongside other officials he reiterated there were no people at the warehouse at the time of the blasts.
However, media reports suggest that during the day there had been workers in the warehouse where the incident started.
There are more than 20 similar facilities in Iganovo, and explosions seem to have taken place in few of them, but data from UAVs sent to hover in the area has not yet been made available.
Private national TV channel reported Sunday morning there were as many as 2000 unmanageable projectiles were stored in the first facilities at the time of the blast.
Saturday's developments are the latest in a series of explosions at ammo plants or warehouses that have rocked Bulgaria in the past years.
The last one, at the Midzhur ammo plant in Bulgaria's north-west, claimed the lives of 15 people late on October 1 last year.
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