A ceremony in northern Iraq on Friday saw a handful of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants lay down their weapons, a small but hugely symbolic gesture that marks the beginning of an end to a conflict with the Turkish state that’s lasted nearly five decades and cost tens of thousands of lives.

The disarmament process will start under tight security in Iraqi Kurdistan and is expected to take all summer.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for full support of the disarmament of Kurdish militants that began with a handover of the first batch of weapons by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) forces,

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, held a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq. It was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament, as part of a peace process.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is set to hold a symbolic disarmament ceremony today in the Sulaymaniyah district of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, marking what is expected to be the end of its 40-year armed conflict against Turkey.