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.

The handover of weapons by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq, following its decision to disband, should be completed within a few months, a spokeperson for Turkey's ruling AK Party said late on Wednesday.

In a seven-minute video message broadcast on media close to the militants, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, declared that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps.