Turkey’s leading Kurdish politicians joined calls on Kurdish rebels to lay down their arms, following a marked increase in deadly violence in the country’s southeast after the militants called off a five-year cease-fire. The appeal came in a joint statement by 14 prominent Kurdish figures, including Leyla Zana, a former lawmaker and internationally renowned campaigner for Kurdish rights, and Tuncer Bakirhan, the head of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, DEHAP. Full Story