A senior Turkish official says groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Syria and Iraq should dissolve themselves.

The jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, appealed on Thursday to his militant group to disarm and to dissolve itself. His call, if heeded by the PKK fighters, opens the door to ending a conflict that has ravaged southeastern Turkey for four decades and will also have significant implications for the wider region,

Kurdish separatist group leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his militants to lay down arms and work toward ending a 40-year war for autonomy against Turkey.