The Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, has declared its intentions for a ceasefire with Turkey.
PKK’s ceasefire is in line with the calls from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan for the group to disarm, Aljazeera quoted Kurdish media.
The announcement by the outlawed group, reported by the pro-PKK Firat news agency (ANF) on Saturday, is seen as a major step towards ending a 40-year conflict with the Turkish state.
The PKK executive committee disclosed this in a statement.
According to the statement: “In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today.
“We agree with the content of the call as it is and we say that we will follow and implement it.
“None of our forces will take armed action unless attacked.”
PKK expressed hope that Ankara would release Ocalan, held in near total isolation since 1999, so he can lead a process of disarmament.
It added that the necessary political and democratic conditions need to be established for the process to succeed.
On Thursday, Ocalan made a historic call from prison for the party to lay down its arms, dissolve itself and end its decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.
On Friday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Ocalan’s call, describing it as a “historic opportunity” for peace.
He said Turkey would “keep a close watch” to make sure the talks to end the insurgency were “brought to a successful conclusion”.
“When the pressure of terrorism and arms is eliminated, the space for politics in democracy will naturally expand,” Erdogan promised.
The 75-year-old Ocalan, has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali, off Istanbul, since 1999, after being convicted of treason.
Despite his incarceration, he continues to wield significant influence over the PKK, which he founded in 1978.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984 with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for around 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million people.
Since Ocalan was jailed in 1999, there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed, which has killed more than 40,000 people.