Türkiye has made progress in the disarmament of the terrorist group PKK after a parliamentary committee agreed upon the guidelines for Parliament in the terror-free Türkiye initiative earlier this week.
Prior to a debate on the report at Parliament and expected legislative steps, authorities have taken meticulous steps for a smooth process for the initiative, which was first suggested by government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in 2024. A report by the Sabah newspaper says that the government is working on a new framework for counterterrorism and disarmament of the PKK, which symbolically began last summer in northern Iraq.
To this extent, the government is preparing to set up a monitoring and verification mechanism for proper confirmation of the disarmament of the terrorist group. The newspaper report says this new mechanism will issue a separate report confirming the full dissolution of the PKK, and that Parliament would not take any legislative step before the confirmation.
Government officials say the initiative builds on years of counterterrorism operations that significantly weakened the PKK’s operational capacity inside Türkiye and across its borders.
Parliamentary work has also focused on legal and institutional preparations for the post-disbandment phase, including frameworks for disarmament monitoring, preventing recruitment and ensuring that any transition process does not undermine public security.
Authorities describe the approach as balancing reconciliation opportunities with strict legal accountability, aiming to prevent the re-emergence of terrorist structures while supporting long-term social stability.
The Sabah report says legislative regulations would not be implemented as long as the PKK held weapons and points out the current “effective remorse” laws in the Turkish Penal Code that offer lenient sentences and, in some cases, no prison term at all, for members of terrorist groups handing over their weapons and collaborating with authorities.
The latest reports show that the PKK has evacuated seven caves it used as shelter in a stretch of land spanning from Turkish territories to the Qandil mountains in Iraq, and the group is believed to control at least 23 other caves it used as hideouts.
Sources speaking to the Sabah newspaper said that although the PKK announced it would dissolve itself last year, in the wake of its jailed ringleader Abdullah Öcalan’s call in February 2025, the dissolution was still not fully realized, and on the contrary, some 2,500 more PKK members had traveled to Qandil, where the senior leadership of the terrorist group lives. Sources say the evacuation of PKK hideouts was suspended in some places due to developments in Syria. The PKK’s Syrian wing, YPG, which has long resisted implementing a deal it signed with Damascus, finally relented last month to integration with the post-Assad Syrian administration, after clashes with Syrian security forces over the past few months. Sources say images of PKK members burning weapons at a ceremony in Iraq’s Sulaimaniyah last year were not followed up and the new mechanism would check whether the PKK has failed to get rid of all the weapons it has.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) will be the final authority in the confirmation of disarmament, thanks to technical reports by its operatives on the field. No further steps will be taken toward the process without MIT’s approval that the group is fully disarmed. Sources say a framework law for the terror-free Türkiye initiative will be discussed after these processes. The framework law will define the monitoring and confirmation mechanism, as well as regulations regarding PKK members not involved in any crimes. It will also define the conditions under which they can be eligible for leniency. After the implementation of the framework law, authorities plan amendments in Turkish Penal Code and counterterrorism laws. The amendments and framework law may involve the return of PKK members to Türkiye from Iraq, where most members of the group live. It will also facilitate the return of PKK-affiliated people from Mahmour and Sinjar, two key camps in Iraq controlled by the PKK. Those returning to Türkiye and confirmed not to have involved in acts of terrorism will be subject to a five-year judiciary control system. The framework law will have temporary validity, most likely for two years, to accelerate the return of PKK members to Türkiye.
Officials have already presented a report on preparations for the terror-free Türkiye plan to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Sabah report said. Erdoğan reportedly instructed subordinates to emphasize to the public that the amendments would not mean a general amnesty for PKK members.
DAILYSABAH
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