IMPRISONED Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan today called on his resistance group to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a new bid to end a four-decade conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

In a message from his prison on an island off Istanbul on Thursday, Mr Ocalan said that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), should hold a congress and decide to disband.

“Convene your congress and make a decision. All groups must lay their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself,” Mr Ocalan said, according to a message that was relayed by pro-Kurdish party politicians who visited the imprisoned leader earlier in the day.

Mr Ocalan’s momentous announcement is part of a new effort for peace between the group and the Turkish state that was initiated in October by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s coalition partner, Devlet Bahceli. 

The far-right politician suggested thast Mr Ocalan could be granted parole if his group renounces violence and disbands.

Mr Ocalan has been imprisoned on the island of Imrali, off Istanbul, since 1999 after being convicted of treason. 

Despite his incarceration, he continues to wield significant influence over the PKK. The group’s leadership is widely expected to heed any call Mr Ocalan makes.

The peace effort comes at a time when President Erdogan may need support from the pro Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in parliament to enact a new constitution that could allow him to stay in power.

The Turkish constitution doesn’t allow Mr Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003 as prime minister and later as president, to run for office again unless an early election is called, something that would also require the support of the pro-Kurdish party.

Founded by Mr Ocalan in 1978, the PKK has led an insurgency in Turkey’s south-east since 1984. 

The group is labelled as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and its Western allies. Previous peace efforts with the PKK have ended with failure, the most recent in 2015.

Even amid the latest peace efforts, Mr Erdogan’s government has widened a crackdown on the opposition, arresting journalists and politicians. Several elected Kurdish mayors have been ousted from office and replaced with state-appointed officials.

Thursday’s meeting was the third time that DEM party officials have met Mr Ocalan as part of the peace efforts. The officials have also met Selahattin Demirtas, an imprisoned former pro-Kurdish party leader, and travelled to Iraq for talks with Kurdish leaders there.