DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) - Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan on Saturday called for Kurds to hold a congress to bring an end to the 40-year armed struggle in Turkey waged by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"A congress should be organised to bring an end to the 40-year struggle against the Turkish Republic," Ocalan said in a message for Kurdish New Year celebrations in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir read out by pro-Kurdish lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder, hailing a "new era" between Turkey and Kurds.