Cemil Bayik said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was “escalating this war” and “the Kurds will defend themselves to the end, so long as this is the Turkish approach -of course the PKK will escalate the war”.

Recently, an aide to Mr Erdogan ruled out any negotiations with the PKK.

Turkish presidential adviser Ilnur Cevik told the BBC's Mark Lowen that the PKK was “trying to create a separate state in Turkey – this is outright secession”. When asked if there was any chance of negotiation, he replied: “At the moment, no”.

He added that Mr Erdogan had popular support for the military campaign.

But Mr Bayik, the PKK's military leader, insisted that “we don't want to separate from Turkey and set up a state”. “We want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely… The struggle will continue until the Kurds' innate rights are accepted” he added.

He said Turkish intransigence had made the PKK ready to escalate the conflict “not only in Kurdistan, but in the rest of Turkey as well”.