Jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan used the Kurdish new year celebrations to order his fighters to cease fire and withdraw from Turkish soil.<br/> <br />Hundreds of thousands of Kurds massed for the festivities listened to Ocalan's message being read out.<br/> <br />The move marks a major step toward ending a conflict that has killed 40,000 people.<br/> <br />The ceasefire could cement peace talks with Turkey, with the fighters withdrawing to their bases in the mountains of northern Iraq.<br/> <br />Truces have been declared and secret talks held with Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers Party in the past, but expectations are high this time.<br/> <br />The PKK, regarded by the United States and the European Union as well as Turkey as a terrorist organisation, launched its campaign in 1984, demanding an independent Kurdish state in the southeast of Turkey.<br/> <br />But in recent years it has moderated its demands to political autonomy and broader cultural rights.
