Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey have begun laying down their weapons.

Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday, the first step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process.

Erdogan hails symbolic destruction of arms as a step toward 'terror-free Turkey,' as top PKK fighter says jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan must be set free for rapprochement to work