The Kurdish militant PKK began withdrawing all of its forces from Turkish soil to northern Iraq on Sunday, while urging Ankara to release its jailed leader to ensure the success of the peace process.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) formally renounced its armed struggle against Turkey in May, drawing a line under four decades of violence that had

"We are implementing the withdrawal of all our forces within Turkey," the PKK said in a statement read out in Kurdish and Turkish in a remote village in the Qandil Mountains of northern Iraq, according to an AFP journalist present.

Standing in front of large banners of jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan were 25 fighters carrying assault rifles -- among them three commanders -- whom the PKK said had just left Turkey. Eight were women.

It was

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