The PKK leader’s calls for the group to disarm and dissolve is a step towards ending a 40-year conflict with the Turkish state.

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his militant group to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a bid to end a four-decade long conflict.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia on Saturday declared an immediate ceasefire, two days after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called on fighters to lay down their arms and dissolve the group.