A senior Turkish official says groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Syria and Iraq should dissolve themselves.

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan has called on his militant group to lay down its arms and dissolve as part of a bid to end a four-decade long conflict.

Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party known as PLK, sent a letter calling for the group to disarm and dissolve to make peace with Turkey.