Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey began laying down their weapons in a symbolic ceremony on Friday in northern Iraq, the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process.

Iraq's oil sector faces a dual crisis: stalled negotiations with the KRG over exports, and warnings from parliament of a "structural collapse" that could trigger US sanctions.

The decision by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down its arms and apparently disband has reverberated across the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

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.

Turkish President Erdogan has made it clear that the agreement between Ankara and the Kurdish Workers Party was motivated by reactionary aims related to the imperialist war in the Middle East.

The PKK disarmament ceremony also could mark a new era for the Kurds, one of the largest stateless groups in the world with over 30 million people living across Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. The PKK has said it will now shift from armed resistance to political dialogue and regional cooperation.

While the PKK has announced its dissolution and intention to stop fighting, clashes continue in Iraqi Kurdistan between Kurdish guerrillas and the Turkish army. Turkish forces seek to neutralise

A group of 30 Kurdish fighters have ceremonially burned their weapons in northern Iraq, marking a major step toward ending a decades-long insurgency. The members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party,

Turkey's Iraq Problem. ... Turkey is determined to prevent a repetition of the 1984-99 guerrilla war with the separatist PKK, in which it suffered more than 30,000 deaths.

ISTANBUL, July 10 (Reuters) - The handover of weapons by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq, following its decision to disband, should be completed within a few months, a spokeperson for Turkey's ruling AK Party said late on Wednesday.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, right, and Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani shake hands during a welcome ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, March 21, 2023.