ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Between 40 to 100 fighters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will give up their arms at two sites in Sulaimani province in July, marking the practical start of disarmament over a month and a half since the party declared it would disarm and dissolve following a historic call by jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, two well-informed sources confirmed to The New Region.

“Between the beginning to middle of the next month, the PKK will materialize the disarmament of its guerrillas to prove its goodwill,” a media source close to the PKK told The New Region.

The source added that in the first stage, 40 to 100 fighters will hand over their weapons at two locations in Sulaimani to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) security forces.

“The process will be conducted openly and under the watch of the Kurdistan Region... those guerrillas who lay down arms and hand them over to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) security forces will return to their places,” the source detailed.

“After this, the PKK will await practical steps by Turkey as well,” the source said.

Around mid-May, the PKK announced its decision to dissolve and disband, putting an end to an insurgency that lasted over four decades, after months of negotiations.

The PKK announced the historic decision following the militant group's 12th Congress in early May, which heeded the advice of imprisoned founder Ocalan and brought an end to a multi-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state.

In his message, Ocalan asserted that it was time for the Kurdish struggle to transition to a dialogue-based, democratic, and political arena.

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

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

In a message congratulating Muslims on the occasion of Eid al-Adha earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remarked that the ongoing peace process in the country demonstrates Ankara’s "ability to produce local and national prescriptions for its problem,” and that Ankara was working to eliminate any obstacles to the success of the peace process.

"We will hopefully bring this auspicious process, which will strengthen the eternal brotherhood of 86 million, to success without allowing any obstacle in its way,” Erdogan had stated in a video message posted on X.