Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for full support of the disarmament of Kurdish militants that began with a handover of the first batch of weapons by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces,

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the country had “turned . . . a new page in history” as Kurdish militants began to hand over their weapons in the latest step to end a four-decade insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq, the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is set to hold a symbolic disarmament ceremony today in the Sulaymaniyah district of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, marking what is expected to be the end of its 40-year armed conflict against Turkey.

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.