The ceremony marks a fresh turning point in a peace process aimed at ending the militant group’s four-decade-long armed campaign against Turkey.

A group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters announced on Friday that they publicly disarmed in the Kurdistan Region in direct response to the call from their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and as a gesture of good will during peace negotiations with Ankara.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is an icon to many Kurds but a "terrorist" to many within wider Turkish society.- Jailed but still leading - With Ocalan's arrest,

Thirty PKK fighters destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday, two months after the Kurdish rebels ended their decades-long armed struggle against the Turkish state.The ceremony marks a turning point in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics,

The fighters destroyed a cache of weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and sniper rifles.

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.

The PKK's jailed leader says in video address that his movement no longer seeks a nation state ahead of ceremony to lay down arms

It is part of a larger process in which the PKK is moving to lay down its arms.The PKK had said it would lay down its arms and disband back in May. However, it is not clear when this process will begin and how long it will take.