Turkey must push through legal reforms to allow PKK militants to return home without fear of being jailed or killed, a top commander told AFP after the Kurdish militant group began disarming Friday.

See PKK fighters burn their weapons in Northern Iraq in a disarming ceremony.

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.

Kurdish PKK militants want to return to Turkey and enter democratic political life, one of the group's joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the fighters began destroying their arms.