Kurdish militant group announces it is disbanding - after four decades of armed conflict

A Kurdish militant group has announced it is to disband and disarm as part of a peace initiative with Turkey after four decades of armed conflict.

The historic decision by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, comes days after it convened a party congress in northern Iraq.

Beyond just relations with Turkey, the development could have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region, including in neighbouring Syria where Kurdish forces are allied with US military in the fight against the Islamic State.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 in the hope of carving out a homeland for the Kurds in an area straddling the borders of southeastern Turkey, northern Syria and Iraq, and part of Iran.

The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and many of its Western allies.

The Firat news agency published what it said was the closing declaration of a congress that the PKK held last week in
northern Iraq, in response to a call in February from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disband.

The congress "decided to dissolve the PKK's organisational structure and the end armed struggle, with the practical implementation of this process to be led and overseen by (Ocalan)," the agency reported.

"As a result, activities carried out under the name 'PKK' were formally terminated."

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The congress assessed that the PKK's struggle had "brought the Kurdish issue to the point of resolution through democratic politics, thus completing its historical mission".

It was not immediately clear what was meant by having completed the "historical mission".

Earlier this year, the PKK declared a ceasefire "to pave the way for... peace and democratic society" but attached conditions, including the creation of a legal framework for peace negotiations.