SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq - Dozens of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants began handing over weapons in a ceremony in a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, officials said, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

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.

TURKEY: THE Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

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,

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.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party says the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will take a first formal step toward disarmament on Friday. It follows Wednesday's publication of jailed founder Abdullah Öcalan's call to abandon armed struggle against the Turkish state.