ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party has called on his organization to disarm and dissolve as part of a new effort to end 40 years of fighting between the state and the banned militant group.

Turkey's jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down arms on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region.

Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish insurgent group P.K.K., called on his fighters to lay down their arms after decades of battling the Turkish state.