Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party on Monday hailed the withdrawal of PKK fighters from Turkish soil as a "critical" step that completed the first phase of Ankara's peace process with the Kurdish militants.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought the government for four decades, began withdrawing its forces on Sunday, urging Turkey to take the legal steps to advance the process which began a year ago when Ankara offered an olive branch to its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.

"This decision to withdraw is the most concrete expression of (the PKK's) resolve on the path to peace," DEM co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan told reporters, describing it as "one of the most critical and significant steps".

"At this point, the first phase of the (peace) process has concluded," he said, urging the go

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