Cemil "Cuma" Bayik, one of the main leaders and a founder of the movement that has struggled for Kurdish self-determination for the past 30 years, said the US was in touch with the Party for Freedom in Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) in Iran, but that it was not helping actively.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed recently in the New Yorker magazine that American forces were supporting the PJAK movement as part of their strategy to destabilize the Tehran government.

"I have to say that American authorities want to have contact with PJAK, and as a matter of fact they do have contact with PJAK," Bayik said late Wednesday in an exclusive interview at his headquarters deep in Iraq's remote Qandil mountains on the Iranian border.

"But to say that the United States is supporting the PJAK is not right," he added. "PJAK is until now continuing their struggle just with the support of the Kurdish people and the PKK."

The allegations of US support for the PJAK sparked uproar in the Turkish media, forcing the American ambassador in Ankara to issue a denial.

The PKK, which in September declared a unilateral ceasefire in its struggle with Turkey, is labeled a terrorist organization by the US and Europe, which both refuse to have contact with it.

"If the United States is interested in PJAK, then it has to be interested in the PKK as well," Bayik said. "The PKK is the one who formed PJAK, who established PJAK and supports PJAK."

The PJAK, which reportedly has some 3,000 guerrilla fighters based in the Mount Qandil area of Iraq, was founded in the late 1990s and is engaged in a bitter struggle with Iranian security forces, killing a reported 120 in 2005.

The party claims tens of thousands of activists inside Iran itself and describes its agenda as promoting Kurdish identity, democracy and women's rights.

Bayik also called on the international powers and Turkish parties that urged the PKK to announce its unilateral ceasefire to do more to put pressure on the Turkish government and military to reciprocate.

Fearing Turkish threats to invade northern Iraq in a bid to deal with PKK bases, the US and Iraq pushed the PKK to reinstate its ceasefire in September.

With the Kurdish autonomous region one of the few peaceful areas in war-torn Iraq, the US does not want to see it destabilized by a Turkish invasion.

Bayik told AFP that rather than reciprocating, Turkish forces have increased their attacks on the PKK in Turkey.

"Since we called the ceasefire, we are at a point of no war, no peace," he said. "Before we called for a ceasefire, the forces who asked for the ceasefire said they would work for the Kurdish question to be solved peacefully."

Turkey's military has dismissed the ceasefire as a PKK ploy to cover its traditional cessation of hostilities during the snow-choked winter months in mountainous southeast Turkey.

Bayik said the ceasefire would continue until after Turkish general elections in May, when the PKK would reevaluate the situation.

"We are very realistic because there are elections, and we know before elections there is no one to make steps towards a ceasefire," he said. But he added that measures such as scaling back military operations would help create a better atmosphere.

"If these steps are taken, we will be able to continue our ceasefire and this will start our dialogue," Bayik said, adding that after the Thrkish elections, the organization would make a decision.

"I don't want to say it will be the end of the ceasefire, but when the time comes, say for instance June, we will look at the situation in the region... and we will reevaluate the situation."

On Monday, former US diplomat Richard Holbrooke wrote in the Washington Post that the best way to deter a Turkish invasion of northern Iraq would be to deploy NATO troops along the border between the two countries, a suggestion not welcomed by the PKK.

"We fought against Turkey, and as you know Turkey is a member of NATO and during this war NATO supported Turkey and that's how Turkey stood up to us," Bayik said.

"Because of that, whether NATO forces come here or not doesn't change anything for us," he added. "If NATO forces come here and stand against us, this will increase the tension of the Kurdish people against NATO."

Ultimately, Bayik said, restarting the guerrilla war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Turkey would be in no one's interest.

"Realistically, we know very well if clashes start again this will not benefit Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan or the people of the region," the PKK chief said.