ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Kurdish separatists declared a “unilateral cease-fire” in attacks against Turkey on Tuesday and said they were ready for peace negotiations, but the group maintained the right to defend itself.

The statement came as the Turkish military has intensified operations against the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as PKK, in the country’s southeast, at the border with Iraq. The guerrillas have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey for more than two decades.

“We are renewing our declaration to halt attacks against the Turkish army,” Abdul Rahman Chaderchi, the PKK official in charge of foreign affairs, said in northern Iraq, where the rebels have several bases.

“We want peace and we are ready for negotiations, but if Turkey decides to attack our bases inside Turkey or inside Iraqi Kurdistan, then this unilateral cease-fire will be meaningless. If we are attacked, we will fight back and we have the ability to confront any Turkish aggression,” he added.

Turkish troops have massed at the frontier and shelled Iraqi territory while pursuing rebels, drawing criticism from the Iraqi government and raising fears that the conflict could draw in its NATO ally, the United States.