**Turkey is holding five members of a Kurdish “peace group” who crossed into the country from Iraq, reports say.**Prosecutors have reportedly called for charges to be brought against members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party.
The rest of the 34-strong group - who had handed themselves in near Silopi on Monday - were reportedly released.
The PKK’s 25-year war for autonomy in south-east Turkey has left 40,000 dead, and Turkey is currently seeking a negotiated end to the insurgency.
The Kurdish peace group was made up of both PKK fighters from their stronghold in Iraq’s Qandil mountains, and refugees from the Makhmour camp south of Mosul.
They were greeted as they crossed the border into Turkey on Monday by thousands of supporters waving PKK flags, before being taken in for questioning by Turkish authorities.
Closely watched
The “surrender” was a calculated symbolic step by the Kurdish separatists to test the new conciliatory approach promised by the government, says the BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul.
How the rebels are treated now will be watched closely in Turkey as an indication of the government’s willingness and its ability to deliver on its promise of leniency for those willing to give up the armed struggle, our correspondent adds.
The group were acting under the apparent orders of Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader, who has been in jail since 1999.
The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for opposition support for his peace plan.
Turkey has not said what measures it is prepared to include in a peace package. Suggested proposals are said to include constitutional reform, greater concessions to Kurdish culture and possible amnesties.
But the issue is delicate, says our correspondent, as any concessions to the PKK are sure to be condemned by nationalist politicians, being perceived as giving in to terrorists.