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 PKK members confirmed "voluntarily destroying their weapons" in a written statement. Video footage of the ceremony is expected later.

Turkey on Friday hailed a ceremony where PKK militants destroyed a first batch of weapons as a "milestone" and an "irreversible turning point" on the road to peace.

The move comes in response to a historic call by jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan in February, urging them to end their decades-long insurgency and embrace democratic means to defend the rights of T

Fighters from the Kurdish separatist group PKK begin laying down weapons in Iraq as part of a peace process with Turkey.