Turkey’s Justice Ministry has urgently requested information from courthouses nationwide in preparation for a review of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-related cases that could initially lead to the release of approximately 4,500 detainees and convicted prisoners, part of a peace process aimed at ending the group’s four-decade conflict with the Turkish state, the Nefes daily reported on Monday.
The newspaper reported that the review would cover about 80,000 case files involving more than 100,000 suspects and defendants, including fugitives. The release estimate concerns an initial phase, while the larger figures describe the scope of the planned review.
The request is a preparatory step. Releases depend on Turkey’s verifying that the PKK and affiliated groups have ended their activities and surrendered their weapons, as required by a law parliament passed in August.
The law allows some people prosecuted or convicted of PKK-related offenses to have their cases or prison sentences suspended. It does not grant a general amnesty or automatically release prisoners.
According to Nefes the ministry asked courthouses in all 81 provinces to urgently provide information on people in pretrial detention, convicted prisoners and fugitives in PKK-related cases. Courts and prosecutors are expected to finish gathering the data by the end of October.
Some 12,000 of the files involve fugitives or suspects with outstanding arrest warrants, the newspaper said.
The offenses covered include membership in or assistance to the PKK, possession of explosives, property damage, arson and forgery of official documents, according to the report. Killing and attempted killing are excluded although the ministry has also requested information on those cases for analysis.
The Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration took effect on August 18, but its provisions allowing cases and sentences to be suspended cannot yet be applied.
Security agencies must first determine that the PKK, its umbrella organization, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), and affiliated groups have ended their activities and surrendered the weapons and ammunition under their control. The National Security Council must then confirm that finding in a decision published in the Official Gazette.
Courts will review detention and judicial supervision orders in eligible cases and may lift them if the legal grounds for keeping them in place no longer exist.
A government committee chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz last month assigned responsibilities to four groups handling legal matters, developments on the ground, social integration and the laying down of arms. That announcement gave no timetable for completing the verification process or for potential releases.
The peace initiative seeks to end the PKK’s four-decade conflict with the Turkish state. Turkey and its Western allies designate the PKK as a terrorist organization.
The initiative began after far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in October 2024 called for imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to urge the group to lay down its arms and dissolve itself.
Öcalan issued that call in February 2025. The PKK later declared a ceasefire and announced its dissolution.
An earlier peace process had collapsed in 2015, leading to renewed fighting.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
