A group of 30 Kurdish fighters have ceremonially burned their weapons in northern Iraq, marking a major step toward ending a decades-long insurgency.

Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group's fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.

ISTANBUL, July 10 (Reuters) - The handover of weapons by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq, following its decision to disband, should be completed within a few months, a spokeperson for Turkey's ruling AK Party said late on Wednesday.

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party has renewed his call for fighters to disarm. In a video message on Wednesday, Abdullah Ocalan emphasized the importance of abandoning armed conflict and embracing peace through politics.

Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Friday hailed a "new era" following a historic disarmament ceremony at which PKK militants began destroying their weapons after ending decades of armed struggle.