A group of 30 Kurdish fighters have ceremonially burned their weapons in northern Iraq, marking a major step toward ending a decades-long insurgency.

Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, appeared in a rare online video on Wednesday to declare the group's armed struggle against Turkey over and call for a full transition to democratic politics.

During a symbolic ceremony on Friday, thirty fighters from the Kurdish separatist group destroyed their weapons, marking a major step toward ending the group’s decades-long conflict with Turkey.

Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group's fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.

Bahçeli also commended the DEM Party for maintaining what he described as a responsible political stance. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who initiated the current peace process in October, has issued a written statement welcoming the PKK’s disarmament move earlier today.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Presidency's spokesperson on Thursday thanked Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for their 'confidence' in the Region to host the historic ceremony where tens of PKK fighters will lay down arms.