The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will begin handing over its weapons in early July.

 Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) will begin handing over their weapons during a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, the private Iraqi Kurdish channel Rudaw reported on Monday.

This move comes six weeks after the PKK announced an end to more than four decades of conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

Kurds in Turkey hope the party's decision will pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara, opening the door to renewed openness toward Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's 85 million population.

Rudaw quoted two sources in Iraqi Kurdistan as saying the move would serve as a "confidence-building measure" and a "goodwill gesture" to advance the reconciliation process with Turkey.

According to the sources, the ceremony will be held in Sulaymaniyah, the second-largest city in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Most of the PKK's fighters have spent the past ten years in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Türkiye has established military bases to counter the group's fighters.

Rudaw reported that "between July 3 and 10, between 20 and 30 PKK members will surrender their weapons during a ceremony in Sulaymaniyah."

The two sources said that Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned founder of the party, is expected to deliver a new message regarding the decision "in the next few days."

They added, "After that, the weapons surrender process will officially begin."

The PKK's decision comes in response to a call made last February by Ocalan, who has been serving a life sentence on an island off the coast of Istanbul since 1999.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would meet in the coming days with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which played a key role in relaying messages between Ocalan and Ankara.

Rudaw quoted one of the sources as saying that after surrendering their weapons, the members "will return to their bases unarmed," denying reports that they were being held in specific cities in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The source said, "The fighters will return to their bases after surrendering their weapons. It is unlikely they will be sent to any city."

The details of the mechanism for dissolving the party remain unclear, but the Turkish government has confirmed that it will closely monitor the process to ensure its full implementation.