ISTANBUL (Medyascope) – A draft law promising conditional amnesty for certain Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) militants has been submitted to the Turkish Parliament, where it is being deliberated by parliamentarians today (August 10).
By Leo Kendrick • Medyascope
The draft law is part of Turkey’s ongoing Kurdish peace and is the result of nearly two years of deliberations between PKK top brass, pro-Kurdish DEM Party officials, and representatives of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s governing coalition.
This development follows the initiation of the peace process by Erdoğan’s coalition partner Devlet Bahçeli in October 2024, the announced dissolution of the PKK in May 2025, and the launch of the parliamentary commission in August 2025.
The law offers amnesty to certain PKK militants on the condition it dissolves and surrenders all its weapons. PKK militants charged with murder and other crimes demanding maximum sentences before June 2005 are not eligible for amnesty. This condition excludes imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and other senior members of the organization’s leadership.
The idea of Öcalan’s move to house arrest from İmralı Prison, where he has been held since 1999, has been discussed by Bahçeli and others over the nearly-two year process.
While the PKK announced its dissolution and carried out a symbolic weapons burning ceremony in July 2025, the group is believed to retain a level of fighting capacity, and its leadership based in the Kandil Mountains of northern Iraq remains intact.
In July, Medyascope Editor-in-Chief Ruşen Çakır traveled to northern Iraq, where he interviewed PKK Senior Commander Duran Kalkan.
AKP announcements emphasize ‘fight against terrorism’
President Erdoğan responded positively to the submission of the draft law last week, saying “I am hopeful that this step will lead to an outcome that will permanently free Turkey from the threat of terrorism, and strengthen our national unity and regional security.”
Ömer Çelik, spokesperson of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), also responded positively, hailing the draft law as “one of the greatest responses given to the imperialist and Zionist aggression that harbors ill intentions towards our region,” seeming to imply complicity between Israel and the PKK.
Ankara Mayor responds
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, a prominent opposition politician often floated as a possible future presidential contender, issued an announcement Sunday (August 9) responding to the debate surrounding the proposal.
In his statement, Yavaş said “We cannot discuss the issue of democratization just in context of a single issue.”
Yavaş’s background as a nationalist politician has often made the Ankara Mayor more conservative on the Kurdish issue compared to his opposition peers.
While the Kurdish peace process has been billed as a step towards democratization, it has progressed in the context of major democratic backsliding and autocratization in Turkey. Since the beginning of 2025, dozens of democratically elected opposition mayors have been deposed and arrested across the country, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu.
In May, the leadership of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was removed by a court order, a move which was widely interpreted as an attempt to handicap and divide the party, jeopardizing its ability to compete in future elections against Erdoğan’s AKP.
New opposition party announces support for draft law
Following the May removal of the CHP’s leadership, deposed CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and allies founded the New Party, which has since become the largest opposition party in the Turkish Parliament.
In a speech today, Özel announced the party’s support for the law, saying:
“In a spirit of historic responsibility, my party leaders and I say ‘yes’ to this law.”
Following the release of the draft law last Wednesday, the New Party held out on announcing its support, instead saying the party needed to review the law privately.
With the support of the New Party, the draft law has now been endorsed by all parties represented in the Turkish Parliament. The far-right Islamist New Welfare Party and the nationalist Zafer Party have announced their opposition to the law.
Turkey deliberates law offering conditional amnesty to PKK militants | by Leo Kendrick | Edited by Medyascope English Newsroom
