President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Called It a Key Step to Rid Turkey of Terrorism

Turkey's parliament has initiated a legislative process for a conditional amnesty for fighters of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), with 360 of 592 lawmakers backing the draft. The bill, set for a vote after committee review, would allow former PKK members to return to civilian life if the group fully dissolves and surrenders all weapons, as certified by the National Security Council. It covers offenses like PKK membership, support, propaganda, and terrorism financing, suspending investigations and sentences for five or ten years depending on severity.

According to Hurriyet, around 3,600 detainees could be released, but those convicted before June 1, 2005, or of PKK-ordered killings are excluded, keeping founder Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned on Imrali island since 1999, ineligible. The ruling AKP, its ally MHP, and the pro-Kurdish DEM party back the bill, while the opposition Yeni Parti withheld support, citing late receipt of the text. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called it a key step to rid Turkey of terrorism and strengthen domestic peace. The PKK declared its dissolution in May 2025 after Öcalan's call, ending decades of armed conflict that has killed over 50,000 people since 1984.