ISTANBUL: Kurdish militants issued what they said was a final warning to Turkey on Friday to take concrete steps to advance a peace process aimed at ending a three-decade insurgency, or be responsible for it grinding to a halt.

Jailed Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan and the government began peace talks last October to halt a conflict which has killed 40,000 people and blighted Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.

Kurdish leaders have called on the AK Party (AKP) government to launch reforms set out under the talks, but Ankara has said the Kurds need to keep their side of the bargain by speeding up the withdrawal of their fighters to northern Iraq.

“As a movement we are warning the AKP government for the last time... If concrete steps are not taken in the shortest time on the subjects set out by our people and the public, the process will not advance and the AKP government will be responsible,” the PKK said on its website.