Ocalan Says PKK Fighters Should Disarm

The imprisoned leader of a Kurdish guerrilla movement that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state called on Thursday for the group to lay down its arms and dissolve, a pivotal declaration that could help end 40 years of deadly conflict.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and other countries. The group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, made his appeal in a written statement that was read aloud during a news conference by members of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political party who had just visited him in prison.

Mr. Ocalan called for the P.K.K. to lay down its weapons, saying in the statement that the group had outlived its life-span and should decide to disband.

“Convene your congress and make a decision,” he said in the statement, read aloud first in Kurdish then in Turkish. “All groups must lay down their arms and the P.K.K. must dissolve itself.”

The news conference was packed with journalists and with Kurdish politicians. Some in the audience applauded and gave a standing ovation when a photo of Mr. Ocalan appeared on a screen.

The rare message from Mr. Ocalan raised the possibility that a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people over four decades could finally end. It could also echo across borders, given Mr. Ocalan’s profound influence over members of the group in Turkey and Iraq as well as affiliated Kurdish militias in Syria and Iran.