The Kurdistan Workers' Party announced on July 3 that its fighters in northern Iraq will begin surrendering weapons in the first concrete step toward disarmament as part of peace efforts, IQ News reported.

The PKK has long held bases in the mountains of northern Iraq controlled by the autonomous Kurdish leadership in the country and has been repeatedly targeted by the Turkish military and air force as part of their decades-long struggle with Ankara.

The group, which has waged a long insurgency in Turkey, declared in May it would disband and abandon armed conflict, ending four decades of hostilities. The decision followed calls by imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan for the organisation to formally dissolve and disarm.

Öcalan, 76, remains influential in the Kurdish movement despite 25 years imprisonment on an island near Istanbul since 1999. His February appeal for the group to convene a congress and officially disband marked a significant development in ending the decades-long conflict.

The PKK said in a statement that "a group of guerrilla fighters will come down from the mountains and bid farewell to their weapons in efforts to declare their good intentions for peace and democratic political engagement".

The ceremony is expected to take place between July 10 and July 12 in Sulaymaniyah, representing the first tangible step toward disarmament.

An Iraqi Kurdish official, speaking anonymously as he was not authorised to comment publicly, said approximately 40 PKK members will surrender light weapons to the regional government, AP reported.

Two PKK officials in Iraq told Agence France-Presse on July 2 that fighters intend to destroy weapons soon as a gesture of "good faith" and commitment to the disarmament decision.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party expects the PKK disarmament process to begin next week in Iraq's Kurdistan Region, Awene reported on July 3.

DEM Party spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan said at a press conference that according to available information, the resolution process will enter a new phase next week and witness a historic moment.

Regarding when and where PKK disarmament will begin, Doğan said: "We believe the disarmament process will be next week, which will be a historic step according to the PKK congress decisions and Öcalan's call, but we don't know exactly which day it will be, but it will be a new phase."

She indicated that according to information received, the disarmament process will take place in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. "Until now, it's not clear whether it will be in Erbil or Sulaymaniyah, but it doesn't matter which city, what matters is that we are approaching a historic moment," Doğan said.

The spokesperson added: "We expect Abdullah Öcalan to have a message in this regard in the coming few days."

Mustafa Karasu, a PKK founder and senior official, told Media Khabar television on July 2: "We are ready, but the (Turkish) government has not taken the necessary measures to complete the process."