A momentous ceasefire declaration on Saturday stirred a mix of emotions in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq, where people bore the brunt of the 40-year conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish state.

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has acknowledged the ceasefire as a potential step toward peace, he has also warned that military operations against the PKK will resume if disarmament efforts falter.

The jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, appealed on Thursday to his militant group to disarm and to dissolve itself. His call, if heeded by the PKK fighters, opens the door to ending a conflict that has ravaged southeastern Turkey for four decades and will also have significant implications for the wider region,

Residents in Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, said on Sunday that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) decision to heed its jailed leader's call for peace was correct and prosperity would follow if the decades-old conflict ended.

Kurdish fighters who have waged a 40-year insurgency in Turkey have declared a ceasefire, just two days after their imprisoned leader called for the group to disarm.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the four decades since Kurdish separatist group the PKK took up arms against the Turkish government.