Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Kurdish leader, called on his militant group on Thursday to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a new bid to end a four-decade long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

After decades of fighting, the Kurdish group’s imprisoned leader is now calling for its fighters to put down their arms.

Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish militant leader jailed by Turkey who called on Thursday for his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to dissolve and all groups to lay down arms, is an influential figure among the main Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria.

While Ocalan's call raises hopes for ending decades of conflict with Turkey, questions remain about the future of Kurdish politics in Syria and the broader region.

The 75-year-old militant leader Abdullah Ocalan has spent a quarter of a century in jail after leading his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to take up arms against the Turkish state to fight for a Kurdish homeland.

STORY: The leader of the PKK, jailed in Turkey, called on his followers to lay down their arms on Thursday. That's according to a letter read by Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party.Abdullah Ocalan led the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK in a 40-year insurgency against Ankara aimed at carving out an autonomous homeland for the Kurdish ethnic minority.