The Turkish government is preparing individualized legal measures for members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including those currently in prison and those based in PKK camps outside Turkey, as part of ongoing peace talks, Turkish Minute reported, citing the Independent’s Turkish news website.
The PKK announced its decision to lay down arms and dissolve itself in May in line with a call from its jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan in February.
A commission was established in the Turkish Parliament in August to advance the peace efforts and propose legal steps aimed at the conclusion of the PKK’s dissolution and the fate of its militants.
The news outlet’s editor-in-chief, Nevzat Çiçek, reported that a draft regulation, tentatively referred to as an “Opportunity Law” or “Framework Law,” will address two main issues: the return to Turkey of PKK members who have not been involved in crime, and the status of those currently imprisoned on PKK or Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK)-related charges.
The KCK is the umbrella organization that encompasses the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Some 4,200 people convicted or detained on PKK-KCK membership charges are currently held in Turkish prisons, Çiçek wrote. This group includes inmates serving life sentences as well as others nearing the end of their prison terms. Rather than a blanket amnesty, the government is considering a gradual and case-by-case approach, assessing each individual’s role and criminal record.
Existing legal mechanisms such as supervised release are expected to play a central role in the planned arrangements, according to the report. Individuals will be evaluated separately, with officials seeking to avoid collective decisions that could raise constitutional concerns.
A key element of the proposal involves PKK members based outside Turkey who are not believed to have taken part in violent acts. Çiçek said the number of such individuals is estimated at between 950 and 1,050, adding that there is currently no legal obstacle preventing their return, once a clear legislative framework is in place.
Devlet Bahçeli, the head of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, recently voiced that idea, saying PKK members who have not been involved in violence should be allowed to reunite with their families.
He said in an interview with the pro-MHP Türkgün daily that those who were misled or drawn into the organization but did not commit crimes or take part in armed actions should be given the opportunity to return, adding that the state has a responsibility both to protect its citizens and to act with compassion.
The peace talks with the PKK began in October 2024 following a surprise call from Bahçeli, who asked Öcalan to instruct his group to renounce its armed campaign while hinting that the end of PKK violence could lead to Öcalan’s freedom.
Coordination mechanisms involving Ankara, Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq remain active, Çiçek noted. These mechanisms are intended to oversee the laying down of arms, the handover of weapons and facilities and arrangements for militants who choose to remain in Iraq.
In a symbolic ceremony in July, 30 PKK militants destroyed their weapons at a ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan, two months after the Kurdish militants announced the end of their decades-long war against the Turkish state.
The ceremony marked a turning point in the transition of the PKK from armed insurgency to democratic politics, as part of a broader effort to draw a line under one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.
According to the analysis, the first group expected to return will include individuals who have not been involved in criminal activity, including the children of families who have publicly demanded their return from the PKK. Their return will likely begin once the proposed law is adopted by parliament.
Çiçek wrote that the legislation is expected to be a special law, designed to comply with the constitutional principle of equality while preventing its application to other groups such as the people who have been convicted on terrorism-related charges due to their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement.
Legal experts are reportedly working to ensure the law applies only to a group that has formally dissolved, which the government sees as necessitating a separate legal framework.
Last month Mithat Sancar, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) said the Turkish government, the PKK and Öcalan all support adopting a “special law” to regulate the reintegration of militants who lay down their arms rather than a general amnesty.
“The right approach,” he said, “is to introduce regulations specifically addressing the organization that has disbanded and laid down its arms.” He added that a broader amnesty covering other political prisoners “could lead to complications.”
His remarks confirmed that the long-anticipated amnesty, discussed as part of the renewed peace efforts between Ankara and the PKK, would not include opposition figures, journalists, academics or activists imprisoned under Turkey’s controversial counterterrorism laws.
The plan has sparked strong criticism from legal experts and human rights defenders, who say limiting legal reforms to PKK members would further expose the government’s selective and politicized use of justice.
The Independent Turkish report also noted that while the dissolution of an organization could eliminate the offense of membership, crimes committed by individuals would still be subject to legal scrutiny. As a result authorities are considering differentiated treatment based on specific roles, such as individuals who carried out logistical tasks without participating in armed attacks.
Time limits, supervised release and similar measures are among the tools under consideration, Çiçek wrote, reiterating that assessments would be made on an individual rather than collective basis.
The PKK’s senior leadership is estimated at around 232 people, with 30 to 40 considered top-level figures. Çiçek said that most of these individuals are expected to remain in Iraq or travel between Iraq and Europe under arrangements coordinated among Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil.
Supporters of the peace talks see the initiative as a chance to end a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since the 1980s. Critics, however, remain wary of Öcalan’s role and the extent to which the government will allow genuine political and legal reforms to accompany the peace efforts.
