The measure takes effect only after authorities verify the group has disarmed
The legislation creates a conditional process for thousands of PKK members as part of Turkey’s effort to advance a peace initiative with the group. Lawmakers voted 468-88 in favor of the measure.
The bill follows the PKK’s announcement last year that it would end its decades-long armed campaign against the Turkish state and dissolve itself. That decision came after a call from Abdullah Ocalan, the group’s imprisoned leader. The PKK later held a symbolic disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq, where it is based, and said it was withdrawing fighters from key locations in Turkey to Iraq.
The legislation will not take effect until Turkey’s National Security Council confirms that the PKK has disbanded and surrendered all weapons. Ministerial and parliamentary committees will monitor the process, and people seeking the law’s benefits will have six months to apply after the council’s decision appears in the official gazette.
The 12 articles would suspend some prison sentences for convicted PKK members and postpone investigations and trials involving others for five or 10 years, depending on the severity of the alleged offenses. Cases would be dropped if no terror-related crime occurs during the applicable period.
The bill excludes militants convicted of intentional killings and people sentenced to life terms before 2005. Those exclusions apply to Ocalan and other senior PKK figures. The proposal does not mention Ocalan’s status or a possible release, although media reports have suggested his conditions at an island prison off Istanbul could improve through broader visits and communication with the outside world.
Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey’s Parliament speaker, said the vote could begin a new phase. “With the armed organization laying down its arms and dissolving itself, we will build a new era in which peace, brotherhood, and solidarity will prevail,” Kurtulmus told reporters after the vote.
The PKK-linked ANF news outlet carried a statement from the group describing the legislation as a “beginning” to resolving outstanding issues while also saying it had “serious shortcomings and deficiencies.” The group called for Ocalan’s release and said the peace process could advance only if he “lives and works freely.”
The statement also said the bill failed to address democratic reforms and Kurdish rights. The PKK said fighters would not surrender their weapons and return to Turkey “if, upon returning to Turkey, they are unable to engage in democratic politics on the basis of freedom of thought and freedom of association, and if they are prosecuted and imprisoned because of their views or the organizations they establish.”
Gulistan Kilic Kocyigit of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, told parliament that the proposal had shortcomings but that lawmakers had a responsibility to address them. She linked those concerns to demands for greater rights for Kurds and democratic reforms.
Musavat Dervisoglu, leader of the center-right nationalist Good Party, which opposes the bill, said it “would pave the way” for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to remain in power. DEM has lobbied for Ocalan to receive official status to coordinate the transition process and be released.
The initiative could affect relations beyond Turkey. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and spilled into Iraq and Syria. The legislation could lead to closer Turkish-Iraqi ties and support the Syrian government’s efforts to integrate areas formerly controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which are affiliated with the PKK.
The PKK has waged its armed insurgency since 1984. Turkey, the United States and the European Union designate the group a terrorist organization. The PKK initially sought an independent Kurdish state before shifting to demands for autonomy and expanded rights in Turkey. Previous peace efforts, including the most recent one in 2015, have failed.