The aim of ongoing talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is to convince the group’s militants to lay down their arms and abandon Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

“Our sincerity can be seen in the steps that we have taken in the last few days. Our aim is to have the separatist terrorist organization’s cadres leave Turkey. [We want to make them] lay down their arms and leave,” Erdoğan said during a joint press conference with Nigerien Prime Minister Mahamadou Issoufou in reference to the talks between Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, and the government.

Erdoğan also accused the PKK of committing “provocations” by attacking a military station in the eastern province of Hakkari on Jan. 8.

“During such peace initiatives, the [PKK] has always showed the [worst behavior] possible. We will continue our operations. But we have said that ‘we can negotiate with the political arm of the terrorist organization.’ And we are at the same point today,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency.

In a bid to end the four-decade-old Kurdish question and disarm the PKK, the Turkish government dispatched National Intelligence Agency (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan last month for talks on İmralı island, where Öcalan is serving a life sentence. Öcalan was later allowed to meet with two prominent Kurdish politicians.