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.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), said the group's armed struggle against Turkey has ended and called for a full shift to democratic politics in a video message published online on Wednesday.

Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has announced the end of the group’s armed struggle against Turkiye, calling for a full shift to democratic politics.