FIGHTERS of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a separatist resistance group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey, began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq today.

The disarmament is a key step in months of indirect negotiations between PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and Ankara.

The process began in October with the blessing of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and was facilitated in Turkey by the pro-Kurdish Peoples Equality and Democracy Party (DEM).

The PKK announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of armed struggle, following an appeal by Mr Ocalan for this to happen.

He has been held in solitary confinement on a prison island near Istanbul since 1999.

The ceremony took place in the mountains outside the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. 

Although only limited details about the ceremony were revealed, a PKK source told reporters in advance that around 30 fighters would destroy their weapons and then return to the mountains.

In a video message released on Wednesday, Mr Ocalan said: “I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I urge you to put this principle into practice,” pledging that the disarmament process would be “implemented swiftly.”

President Erdogan has predicted that peace efforts with the Kurds will gain momentum after the PKK began laying down its weapons.

“The process will gain a little more speed when the terrorist organisation starts to implement its decision to lay down arms,” he said last weekend.

“We hope this auspicious process will end successfully as soon as possible, without mishaps or sabotage attempts,” Mr Erdogan added on Wednesday.

Last year, the Iraqi government announced an official ban on the PKK, which has long been prohibited in Turkey.

The PKK took up arms in 1984 with the aim of securing an independent Kurdistan.