Kurdish PKK militants declare ceasefire, heeding jailed leader's call

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, a news agency close to it said, heeding jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan's disarmament call, in a major step toward ending a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state.

Ocalan on Thursday called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve, a move that President Tayyip Erdogan's government and the opposition pro-Kurdish DEM party voiced support for.

If successful, the move could have wide-ranging implications for the region while ending a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since the PKK - now based in the mountains of northern Iraq - launched its armed insurgency in 1984.

It could give Erdogan a domestic boost and a historic opportunity to bring peace and development to southeast Turkey, where the conflict has killed thousands and severely hurt the economy.

The group hoped Ankara would give Ocalan, held in near total isolation since 1999, more freedoms so he could lead a disarmament process, adding that the necessary political and democratic conditions must be established for it to succeed.

Reuters