The Kurdish insurgency is an armed conflict between the Republic of Turkey and various Kurdish insurgent groups,[1][2] which have demanded separation from Turkey to create an independent Kurdistan,[3][4] or to have autonomy[5][6] and greater political and cultural rights for Kurds inside the Republic of Turkey.[7] The main rebel group is the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK,[2] which was founded on November 27, 1978,[8] and started a full-scale insurgency on August 15, 1984 when the PKK announced a Kurdish uprising.[9] The first insurgency lasted until September 1, 1999,[4][10] when the PKK declared a unilateral cease-fire after the capture of its leader Abdullah Öcalan.