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

Turkey must push through legal reforms to allow PKK militants to return home without fear of being jailed or killed, a top commander told AFP after the Kurdish militant group began disarming Friday.

As Kurdish armed group PKK started disarmament today as part of its dissolution, Turkey claimed it as a ‘milestone’ and an ‘irreversible turning point’ in the Turkish-Kurdish conflict.

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.

Kurdish PKK militants want to return to Turkey and enter democratic political life, one of the group's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the fighters began destroying their arms.

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party has renewed his call for fighters to disarm. Abdullah Ocalan emphasized in a video message on Wednesday the importance of abandoning armed conflict and embracing peace through politics.

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.