Turkey’s parliament passed a law on Monday establishing a legal framework for the disbandment of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a major step toward ending a four-decade conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.
The legislation, formally titled the Bill on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Cohesion, was approved by 468 votes in favour, 88 against and six abstentions in the 600-seat parliament, after roughly 12 hours of debate. It secured support from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling AK Party, its nationalist MHP allies, and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party. The law provides legal protections for former militants who have not committed specific crimes and facilitates the suspension of prison sentences for some convicted of PKK membership, paving the way for their reintegration into society. However, its provisions will only take effect once Turkey’s National Security Council formally verifies that the PKK has fully disarmed, and those seeking to benefit will have a six-month window to apply once that confirmation is published.
The law excludes senior PKK figures, including jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan and militants convicted of intentional killings or sentenced to life terms before 2005 — a carve-out the PKK’s leadership had earlier warned would leave key provisions a “dead letter.” The PKK-linked ANF news outlet described the legislation as a “beginning” but said it had “serious shortcomings.”
The measure marks the most concrete legislative step in the peace process since Ocalan called on the group in February 2025 to disarm and disband. The PKK announced its dissolution in May 2025 and held a symbolic weapons-burning ceremony in northern Iraq that July. Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş called Monday’s vote the start of “a new era in which peace, brotherhood, and solidarity will prevail.”