The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) freed the eight soldiers and civil servants on Wednesday as part of a peace process with the Turkish government that it hopes will lead to a ceasefire by August. The hostages were freed in Iraq and they were back in Turkey on Wednesday afternoon led by Iraqi Kurdistan's government.

Today , The release of the eight captives led by Iraqi Kurdistan region including security officers and civil servants, came after a request by jailed PKK Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who spoke last month through visiting BDP lawmakers that he hoped to see prisoners “reach their families.”

Kurdish rebels said they would on Wednesday release eight Turkish captives to a delegation of pro-Kurdish party members as part of a renewed push for peace with Turkey.

“The prisoners will be freed and handed over to a delegation on 13 March, 2013,” an armed wing of the PKK said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

Ankara also confirmed that the eight captives, which include troops and civil servants, are expected to be set free on Wednesday and taken to Turkish soil, where their families are waiting to greet them.