Recep Tayyip Erdogan invited Turks to celebrate. He called it a historic day and a new chapter for Turkey without terrorism, after a PKK group decided to lay down its arms.
"Today, don't forget, it's a new day, it's a new page that's opening in Turkey's history. I hope we've put an end to the 47-year curse of terrorism. A page has now been closed and the long journey that Turkey has gone through is full of pain and tears," said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
For the first time, he also spoke about the ongoing process. The Turkish president denied that he had bargained with the Kurds, and said he would continue dialogue with members of the DEM party, which represents the Kurdish population in Turkey's parliament.
"The next step is now in the Turkish Parliament, we will deal with changing the legislation. A special commission with members from the Kurdish DEM party will deal with this," added Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
It is still unknown what the fate of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the PKK who is imprisoned on the island of Imrali, will be.
The PKK decided to lay down its arms after a Turkish-Kurdish conflict that began in 1984, a conflict that is said to have claimed the lives of over 400,000 people.