"We will stop all military operations against the Turkish army and government" during Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival that follows the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman Dozdar Hammo told AFP.

However, the rebels would "defend themselves" against any Turkish military attack, Hammo said, speaking by telephone.

Eid is expected to start on Tuesday for Sunni Muslims.

The temporary ceasefire announcement came a day after the deputy chief of the most powerful political party in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani, called on separatist groups in the area to lay down their arms.

He said that "the Turkish government needs to pursue a policy of openness and democracy, and within this policy, (the PKK) must put down its weapons, as it must undertake a civil and parliamentary struggle in Turkey."

The Turkish military began a bombing campaign on August 17 against PKK targets in Iraq after a rebel attack on a military unit in southeast Turkey killed nine Turkish security personnel.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.