ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The ruling authorities of the Kurdish enclave of northeast Syria welcomed the landmark call by Abdullah Ocalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) for the party to disarm and dissolve after decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. 

Mazloum Abdi, leader of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they were positively reacting to Ocalan’s call.

"We welcome the historic announcement by Leader Abdullah Ocalan, calling for an end to the war in Türkiye and opening the way for a peaceful political process," Abdi said in an X post. 

Abdi added, "This historic announcement is an opportunity to build peace and a key to opening healthy and constructive relations in the region."

Abdi added that Ocalan’s message will bring about peace in the region.

“If this process succeeds, it will have positive impacts on us and Turkey will no longer have an excuse to attack our region," Abdi had earlier said. 

A large number of people gathered in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria to listen to Ocalan's message. 

The SDF, considered the Kurdish de facto army in Syria and the US’ primary ally in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in the country, controls the bulk of northeastern and eastern regions of Syria, amounting to a quarter of the country's territory.

Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, to be inextricably linked to its domestic foe, the PKK. However, the YPG insists that they merely subscribe to a similar ideology.

Sporadic clashes have occurred between the SDF and Turkey and its affiliated rebel groups in SDF-controlled areas in northeast Syria since the start of the ex-rebel groups' campaign in late November, which eventually led to the collapse of the Assad regime in early December. 

Ankara has said it would press on with military preparations in northern Syria against the SDF until the group is disarmed, claiming that the Kurdish-led force is a security threat to Turkey.

The YPG also welcomed Ocalan’s message.

“This message is meant to end the war and leads us to resolve issues on the table through democracy, dialogue, and peace,” Siyamand Eli, head of the YPG’s media office said. “We see hope in this message. The Ocalan project is before us to reach a peaceful life.”

Ocalan, 75,  on Thursday called on his party to lay down arms against the Turkish state and dissolve itself in a historic declaration from Imrali Prison, where he has been held for 26 years.

The call is to end the decades-long conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish group that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

"The call made by Mr. Devlet Bahceli, along with the will expressed by Mr. President, and the positive responses from the other political parties towards the known call, has created an environment in which I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility of this call,” Ocalan calls in an address delivered by pro-Kurdish DEM Party after they met him earlier today, for the third time in three months to resume the peace process in Turkey.

 "As in the case with any modern community and party whose existence has not been abolished by force, would voluntarily do, convene your congress and make a decision; all groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” DEM Party quoted Ocalan as saying. 

"I convey my greetings to all those who believe in co-existence and who look forward to my call,” Ocalan says.

The PKK is an armed group that has fought for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.