Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has announced an end to the group’s armed struggle against Turkey, and a full transition to “democratic politics.” Öcalan’s message came in a previously recorded video which was released Wednesday.

Abdullah Öcalan: “The PKK movement and its national liberation strategy, which emerged as a reaction to the denial of the existence of the Kurds and thus aimed at setting up a separate state, has been dissolved. The existence of the Kurds has been recognized; therefore, the basic aim has been achieved. … What has been done is a voluntary transition from the phase of armed struggle to the phase of democratic politics and law. This is not a loss, but it has to be regarded as a historical gain.”

This follows Abdullah Öcalan’s historic call in February for the PKK to disarm. The PKK was founded in 1978 and launched an insurgency against Turkey in 1984 but later renounced its separatist goals. The 40-year conflict is estimated to have killed more than 40,000 people.