Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish insurgent group P.K.K., called on his fighters to lay down their arms after decades of battling the Turkish state.

Turkey's jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to disarm and disband on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.

Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan has asked his followers in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to lay down arms and dissolve the group, potentially ending a decades-long conflict with Turkey that is estimated to have killed at least 40,