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

Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, appeared in a rare online video on Wednesday to declare the group's armed struggle against Turkey over and call for a full transition to democratic politics.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed the disarmament process begun by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as an important step toward a terrorism-free Turkey.

Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will start laying down their arms at a ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday, two months after the militant group ended its armed struggle against the Turkish state.

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), appeared in a rare online video on Wednesday to say the group's armed struggle against Turkey has ended, and he called for a full shift to democratic politics.

The move comes after the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) urged his group to formally disband and disarm.