Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdish separatist PKK has called on his movement to lay down its arms and dissolve itself – in a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Turkey and have significant implications for the security of the wider region.
Ocalan, 75, issued the order to disarm from an island prison south of Istanbul, where he has been kept in isolation after being captured in Kenya in 1999 by Turkish special forces. The PKK is banned as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
