Turkey unveils draft law to re-integrate PKK militants, achieve peace
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A fighter with the Kurdistan Workers' Party stands guard in the Qandil mountains, Iraq, on Oct 26, 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Turkey submitted a draft law to Parliament to reintegrate former PKK militants and suspend some prison sentences to achieve peace.
- The law includes a committee to oversee militants' disarmament and offers legal protection to non-violent returnees within six months.
- The Bill has broad political support and aims to end a conflict that has caused over 40,000 deaths since 1984.
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ANKARA – Turkey’s ruling alliance submitted a draft law to Parliament on Aug 5 meant to achieve peace with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in part by protecting many former militants from prosecution and suspending prison sentences for some others.
The draft law marks a leap towards ending an insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984, sown deep discord at home and fuelled violence across borders in Iraq and Syria.
It aims to end the decades-old conflict in part by facilitating the return to Turkey of potentially thousands of former PKK militants and civilians from hideouts in northern Iraq.
The Bill, which is expected to pass the assembly later this week, aims to end a decades-old conflict in part by facilitating the return to Turkey of potentially thousands of former PKK militants based in northern Iraq.
Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT would verify the group’s disarmament and a committee – including the vice-president, some ministers and the head of MIT – would oversee the militants’ surrender and disarmament under the Bill.
The committee will inform a parliamentary commission on the proceedings of the process.
The Bill would suspend prison sentences for those convicted of PKK membership or aiding the group, according to the text seen by Reuters.
It also legally protects militants who were not involved in killings and who return to Turkey within six months of the law passing Parliament.
PKK officials convicted of serious crimes, including leading a terrorist organisation and aggravated life sentences before 2005, would not benefit from legal protections or suspended sentences.
This means PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, jailed since 1999 with an aggravated life sentence, would remain in prison. Ocalan called on the PKK to disarm and disband in 2025 and the group agreed.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, its nationalist MHP allies and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party backed the “national solidarity and social integration” Bill. Most other parties, including the main opposition, have voiced support for it.
“Today we are taking the first step. Hopefully, we will continue all the way through in a positive manner,” said DEM co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan.
The peace process between Turkey, which has military alliance NATO’s second-largest army, and the PKK began in late 2024, but came to a near standstill earlier in 2026 over the Iran war and concerns about regional instability.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. It launched its insurgency in 1984 and initially sought an independent Kurdish state in south-east Turkey, but later refocused on seeking autonomy and Kurdish political rights. REUTERS
