The PKK on Friday will hold an event in Iraqi Kurdistan to start destroying a first tranche of weapons, formally starting a disarmament process that is likely to unfold over the coming months.

"The details of disarmament will be determined and implemented swiftly.. Establishing a disarmament mechanism will advance the process," Ocalan said in a video message.

"This represents a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law," he said, stressing that the peace process had reached a "historic" point.

Ocalan, who has been serving life on Imrali prison near Istanbul since 1999, said he had prepared a new manifesto for the shift from armed struggle to democratic politics.

"I have prepared a democratic society manifesto that must be considered a historic transformation. This manifesto successfully replaces the nearly 50-year-old 'Path of the Kurdistan revolution' manifesto."