SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq (Reuters) -Dozens of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants began handing over weapons in a ceremony in a cave in northern Iraq on Friday, officials said, marking a symbolic but significant step toward ending a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.

A group of PKK terrorists on Friday laid down their weapons and destroyed them in northern Iraq's Sulaymaniyah province. The group of PKK terrorists gathered in a cave within the boundaries of the Surdas sub-district of Sulaymaniyah, emerged with their weapons, and then proceeded to a site prepared for the disarmament process.

The spokesperson for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Friday called for the full dissolution of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliated groups, following a symbolic disarmament ceremony held in the Kurdistan Region.

A group of PKK members confirmed "voluntarily destroying their weapons" in a written statement. Video footage of the ceremony is expected later.

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.

NNA - Turkey on Friday hailed a ceremony where PKK militants destroyed a first batch of weapons as a "milestone" and an "irreversible turning point" on the road to peace.

Bahçeli also commended the DEM Party for maintaining what he described as a responsible political stance. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who initiated the current peace process in October, has issued a written statement welcoming the PKK’s disarmament move earlier today.

A group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters announced on Friday that they publicly disarmed in the Kurdistan Region in direct response to the call from their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan and as a gesture of good will during peace negotiations with Ankara.