FILE PHOTO: A Kurdish demonstrator holds a flag during a protest demanding the release of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq February 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
(Reuters) - Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish militant leader jailed by Turkey who called on Thursday for his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to dissolve and all groups to lay down arms, is an influential figure among the main Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria.
Turkey hopes the statement will pave the way for Ocalan's outlawed PKK to disarm, potentially ending the insurgency it has been waging against the Turkish state since 1984 and in which 40,000 people have been killed.
