QANDIL, Iraq — The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced Sunday that it is withdrawing its remaining fighters from Turkey into northern Iraq as part of a renewed peace effort with Ankara.

Speaking at a press conference in Qandil, Iraq, senior PKK figure Sabri Ok said the decision was made “to avoid clashes or provocations” and had been approved by the group’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan.

“All PKK forces in Turkey are being withdrawn to areas in northern Iraq,” Ok said, adding that similar measures were being taken along border positions that could carry a risk of confrontation.

The move follows the PKK’s symbolic disarmament ceremony held earlier this year, during which some fighters laid down their weapons to signal the group’s commitment to peace.

In May, the PKK said it would formally disband and renounce armed struggle after Ocalan urged members to convene a congress to end the conflict.

The Turkish government welcomed Sunday’s announcement as a key milestone.

Omer Celik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, described it as “a concrete result of the ‘Terror-free Turkey’ road map,” but warned against “external and internal sabotage efforts.”

Efkan Ala, a senior party official, called the decision “the completion of another significant phase in the elimination of terrorism.”

The withdrawal comes ahead of Erdogan’s scheduled meeting with Kurdish legislators who have been holding talks with Ocalan on the prison island of Imrali.

A 51-member parliamentary committee is also working on legal and political reforms to support the peace process.

PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwar said the decision was intended to demonstrate the group’s seriousness about peace but expressed frustration with the government’s lack of progress on Kurdish language rights and Ocalan’s prison conditions.

“So far, there have been no signs that the Turkish state has changed its mentality or politics,” he said.

Founded in the late 1970s, the PKK launched an armed insurgency in 1984 seeking an independent Kurdish state before shifting its demand to autonomy and cultural rights within Turkey.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. — Agencies