San Francisco Frontiers - Turkey MPs back historic law on reintegrating Kurdish militants

The law is Turkey's first legislative step towards ending the conflict and comes 18 months after Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), urged his followers to disarm.

The text, which passed by 468 votes in favour to 88 against, with six abstentions, envisages a return to civilian life for some of the PKK fighters who lay down their weapons without granting a total amnesty.

But crucially, it does not specify what will become of Ocalan, 77, who has spent the past 27 years being held in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.

Ocalan has played a key role in efforts to end the conflict, issuing a historic call in February 2025 for his fighters to disarm and embrace democratic means to defend the rights of Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the pro-Kurdish DEM party, the bill suspends prosecutions and prison sentences for some offences for between five and 10 years.

The move is expected to involve the release of around 3,500 PKK-linked detainees in an initial phase, lawmakers said -- around a third of the number held in Turkish prisons.

If those covered by the measure do not reoffend during that period, investigations would be dropped and sentences considered served.

But those involved in serious crimes such as murder would be excluded -- with the text making no mention of Ocalan.

Last week, Turkey's vice president Cevdet Yilmaz told CNN Turk that Ocalan's case "does not fall within the scope of this law" but said the ageing leader would be "in a position to contribute to the peace process" without giving further details.

- 'Why negotiate with terrorists?' -

Aware of the misgivings of the Turkish public that has been scarred by decades of bloody conflict, the government has been careful to stress that the text is not a general amnesty law.

Ahead of the vote, the tension was evident as lawmakers debated the bill in a session live on TRT public television.

"How can you negotiate with terrorists? ... You said they would be laying down their weapons unconditionally," said Turhan Comez, a lawmaker with the nationalist opposition Iyi party.

But Ozgur Ozel, leader of the Yeni Parti, Turkey's new main opposition force, who backed the bill, said only "peace, democracy and justice will serve as a remedy" for Turkey.

DEM played a key role in the shuttle diplomacy between Ocalan and Turkey's political establishment that began in October 2024, with a party delegation regularly travelling to Imrali island to meet him and pass messages back and forth.

In May last year, the PKK announced it was disbanding following Ocalan's call and two months later, its militants took part in a historic disarmament ceremony in the mountains of northern Iraq where they began symbolically destroying their weapons.

But the PKK leadership has said excluding Ocalan from the legislation would be a red line, warning on Sunday that many of the bill's provisions would remain a "dead letter" if he were not freed.

H.Davis--SFF