ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan on Tuesday hailed the recent announcement by his party to disband and lay down arms, in his first public address since the historic declaration.

The PKK on Monday published the results of its recent seminal congress, announcing that the group has decided to dissolve and disband, ending an insurgency that spanned over four decades, after months of negotiations.

“On this occasion, I respectfully salute the decisions taken at the [PKK’s] historic 12th congress and the messages for the upcoming period,” read the message from Ocalan, published by PKK-affiliated media.

Long designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and its western allies, the PKK is an armed group that has fought for increased Kurdish rights in Turkey for decades, predominantly engaging in armed struggle with Turkish forces from the mountainous borders of the Kurdish Region, Iraq, and Syria.

The jailed leader also expressed his sadness over the death of two senior PKK leaders, Ali Haydar Kaytan and Riza Altun, whose deaths – dating back to 2018 and 2019 – were announced during the PKK congress.

The PKK’s announcement came after a February call by Ocalan, in which he urged the party to lay down arms and disband, arguing that it was time for the Kurdish struggle to be moved to a dialogue-based, democratic, and political arena.

Ocalan has been serving a life sentence at Imrali prison, a small but high-security facility on Imrali Island in the Sea of Marmara, since February 1999.

The recent major developments across Turkey’s political landscape serve as a fresh breath of air to millions in Turkey—Turks and Kurds alike—who have endured decades upon decades of a bloody conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.