LIJWA, Iraq, June 2 (AFP) - 19h58 - On the sidelines of a Kurdish congress in this northeastern Iraqi village, young Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants from the region and Europe are bound together by the dream of an independent state.I will only get married when my people are free, said Sara Haldan, expressing the burning hope of these people who adhere to what has been labelled a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey.

"I decided to join the fighters at the age of 15 after I saw Turks drag my friend to her death behind an army vehicle. I decided then to abandon my family and join the guerrillas to fight injustice," Haldan said.

This young Turkish Kurd has not seen her family in years for fear of being recognized and arrested by Turkish authorities.

Kurds, who have sought independence since poet Ahmad Khani first called for a Kurdish state to fend for its people in 1695, share a common history, culture and language across four countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

For the meeting in this village 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the young militants broke out their traditional shalwar pants, multicolored shirts and wide belts.

PKK flags, red and yellow with a red star, flapped in the wind.

Narin, 22, came from Syria and took advantage of a journalist's presence to denounce problems faced by Kurdish women.

"Kurdish men fight for their freedom, while Kurdish women fight for their freedom and their rights," she said. "We should never give up the armed struggle before we regain all our rights."

Others who have gathered in Iraq's northern mountains agree.

"When my family emigrated from Turkey to France I was 12 years old. I lived there for eight years before the party called me back to join fighters in northern Iraq," said 23-year-old Jankiz.

He now trains Kurdish fighters and insists he "wants to remain in this natural, human landscape until my dream of a state in these mountains is fulfilled".

An Indo-European people descended in large part from the Medes and Scythian tribes, Kurds are mainly Sunni Muslims who have settled across nearly a half-million square kilometers (200,000 square miles).

Their total number vary according to official or Kurdish sources, from 25 to 35 million people, with between 13 and 19 million living in Turkey.

Iran is home to six to eight million Kurds, Iraq has four to five million and Syria around 1.5 million.

Large Kurdish communities also exist in the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as in European countries like Germany.

The PKK waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey between 1984 and 1999 in a conflict that has claimed some 37,000 lives.

Around 5,000 militants are believed to be based in Turkey and the mountains of northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, the party said it was ready to declare a ceasefire and offered to begin peace talks with Ankara.

PKK official Murad Karayilan said the group was now seeking a "Kurdish democratic federation."

In Iraq, Kurds represent 15 to 20 percent of the population and were severely persecuted by the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein. They have now become a political force, with Jalal Talabani becoming in April the first Kurd to assume the nation's presidency.