Alevi community federations, comprising 256 associations, called on the PKK terror organization to end its bloodshed and declare a cease-fire without any preconditions. "We Alevis want to see an end to this war immediately. We urge the PKK to declare a cease-fire without any preconditions, immediately," Alevi and Bektaşi Federation Chairman Baki Düzgün said on Thursday in İzmir.

Denying allegations that Alevi leaders are on the same side as the PKK, Düzgün said that they do not support any armed organization. "Alevi associations are not in the backyard of any political party. On the contrary, we support coexistence," Düzgün said.

Praising the reconciliation process that was initiated in 2013 by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to solve the decades-old Kurdish problem through democratic reforms, Düzgün asserted that negotiations are the only assurance to keep their youth alive. "In the last two-and-a-half years, the widely-esteemed reconciliation process has shown all of us that negotiating problems is a requirement of universal law and civilization and is the only assurance for us to create an environment that keeps our youth alive. Our basic requirement is to speak about our problems and surely solve all of them with the universal law of civilization. With these thoughts, we Alevis yell at all of our brothers and sisters from all beliefs and identities. It's enough! Enough, enough," he said.

Düzgün also announced that the delegation of 45 people will visit Cizre, which was under a curfew last week, and Dağlıca, where 16 soldiers were recently killed in an ambush by the PKK.