ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s parliamentary justice committee on Saturday approved a draft law providing a legal framework for the next stage of the country’s peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including the suspension of prosecutions and sentences for certain alleged crimes linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), provided the group fully disarms and dissolves.
The proposed Bill on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion, prepared jointly by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), was submitted to the presidency of the Turkish parliament on Wednesday.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) also signed the proposal.
The legislation, which is expected to be passed in the parliament later this month, would take effect after a National Security Council decision confirming that the PKK and all affiliated organizations have ended their physical existence and surrendered their weapons and ammunition, as verified by security institutions.
The proposal, which outlines a legal framework for the return of PKK fighters who have not been involved in violent actions to Turkey, details their proceedings and adjudication through the justice system and reintegration into society.
According to the parliament, the bill aims to regulate the “postponement of investigations, prosecutions, and the execution of convictions” involving certain PKK-related alleged crimes.
Under the proposed bill, prosecutions for covered offenses could be postponed for five years if the maximum sentence is 15 years or less, and for 10 years for more serious offenses, including life imprisonment. The bill covers alleged crimes such as PKK membership, leadership, knowingly aiding the organization and propaganda. Intentional murder committed as part of organizational activity is excluded.
The proposal also establishes a government board to oversee the process and sets rules for recording weapons and other materials surrendered by PKK members.
The legislation follows increasingly visible calls from MHP leader Devlet Bahceli who on Wednesday called for the release of prominent jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas and reiterated that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan should benefit from “Right to Hope” - a legal principle from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) stating that prisoners serving life sentences must have a realistic prospect of release and periodic sentence reviews.
"This historic step we have taken is the strongest guarantee of social reconciliation and national unity," Bahceli told Turkish media on Wednesday, hoping that the "signature we have placed brings goodness and blessings. Our thousand-year-old brotherhood has been reaffirmed once again. In this process, 86 million people will be winners.”
The process began to take clearer shape after Bahceli’s October 2024 handshake with DEM Party lawmakers in parliament, followed by meetings between a DEM delegation and Ocalan.
On February 27, 2025, Ocalan issued a call for the PKK to disarm and dissolve, after which the group announced a ceasefire. On July 11, 2025, a group of 30 PKK fighters symbolically burned their weapons at a ceremony near Sulaimani in the Kurdistan Region.
Updated at 9:55 am on August 9, 2026.
