Jailed Kurdish leader urges fighters to disarm ahead of symbolic peace ceremony

The jailed leader of a Kurdish militant group renewed Wednesday a call for his fighters to lay down their arms, days before a symbolic disarmament ceremony is expected to take place as a first concrete step in a peace process with the Turkish state.

In a seven-minute video message broadcast on pro-Kurdish Medya Haber's YouTube channel, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, declared that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps.

"It should be considered natural for you to publicly ensure the disarmament of the relevant groups in a way that addresses the expectations of the (Turkish parliament) and its commission, dispels public doubts, and fulfills our commitments," Ocalan said. "I believe in the power of politics and social peace, not weapons. And I call on you to put this principle into practice."

Ocalan, who has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999, first urged the PKK in February to convene a congress and formally dissolve itself. Responding to his call, the PKK announced in May that it would disband and renounce armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities.

Ocalan's call to end the fighting marked a pivotal step toward ending the decades-long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s.

His message broadcast on Wednesday appeared to be aimed at convincing fighters who may still be hesitant about abandoning armed struggle. He delivered his message flanked by fellow inmates.

In a first step toward the PKK's disarmament process, a group of its fighters is expected later this week to lay down their arms in a symbolic ceremony to be held in Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Zagros Hiwar, a PKK spokesman, said a group of 20 to 30 fighters would descend from the mountains and destroy their weapons in front of civil society organizations and invited observers.

The PKK has long maintained bases in the mountains of northern Iraq. Turkish forces have launched offensives and airstrikes against the PKK in Iraq and have set up bases in the area.

The Iraqi government in Baghdad announced last year an official ban on the separatist group, which has long been prohibited in Turkey.