The disarmament process will start under tight security in Iraqi Kurdistan and is expected to take all summer.

For the first time in four decades, the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, is laying down its arms and says it will end its insurgency against Turkey. The separatist group’s disbandment comes after its imprisoned leader announced an end to its 41-year armed struggle and a transition to democratic politics.

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party has renewed his call for fighters to disarm. Abdullah Ocalan emphasized in a video message on Wednesday the importance of abandoning armed conflict and embracing peace through politics.

SULAIMANIYAH (Iraq) (AFP) – Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group's fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.

The PKK's move to begin destroying its weapons was a "historic" act that it hoped would bring peace, the Kurdish militants said on destroying a first batch of guns at a ceremony.

A ceremony is scheduled today in Iraqi Kurdistan to mark the movement's farewell to arms. Its leader Öcalan recently praised “politics and social peace,” while delinking his perso

As Kurdish armed group PKK started disarmament today as part of its dissolution, Turkey claimed it as a ‘milestone’ and an ‘irreversible turning point’ in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.

Bahçeli also commended the DEM Party for maintaining what he described as a responsible political stance. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who initiated the current peace process in October, has issued a written statement welcoming the PKK’s disarmament move earlier today.