• Ceasefire would have regional implications

-Could also provide domestic boost for Erdogan

• Conflict has killed thousands and caused severe economic damage

  • Previous efforts to end the insurgency have failed

March 1 (Reuters) - The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared an immediate ceasefire on Saturday, a news agency close to it said, heeding jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s disarmament call, in a major step toward ending a 40-year insurgency.

Ocalan on Thursday called on the PKK to lay down its arms and dissolve, a move that President Tayyip Erdogan’s government and the opposition pro-Kurdish DEM party voiced support for.

The ceasefire could have wide-ranging implications for the region if it succeeds in ending a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since the PKK - now based in the mountains of northern Iraq - launched its armed insurgency in 1984.