The handover of weapons by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq, following its decision to disband, should be completed within a few months, a spokeperson for Turkey's ruling AK Party said late on Wednesday.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM Party says the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will take a first formal step toward disarmament on Friday. It follows Wednesday's publication of jailed founder Abdullah Öcalan's call to abandon armed struggle against the Turkish state.

In a seven-minute video message broadcast on media close to the militants, Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, declared that the peace initiative had reached a stage that required practical steps.