Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned Kurdish leader, called on his militant group on Thursday to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a new bid to end a four-decade long conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The 75-year-old militant leader Abdullah Ocalan has spent a quarter of a century in jail after leading his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to take up arms against the Turkish state to fight for a Kurdish homeland.

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia on Saturday declared an immediate ceasefire, two days after its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan called on fighters to lay down their arms and dissolve the group.