Terror-free Türkiye laws in the making, timetable still unclear

It has been more than two years since the terror-free Türkiye initiative informally began. The PKK terrorist group announced it would comply with the call to disarm, and authorities signaled they would implement laws to accommodate the needs of the process. However, the process appears to be dragging on, something linked to the slow pace of disarmament.

Sources close to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), whose leader Devlet Bahçeli first touted the idea of the initiative, told media outlets that the legal amendments to advance the process would likely be presented to Parliament in July and may be enacted before Parliament’s summer recess in August.

The framework law, as it is dubbed by the Turkish media, consists of several articles that are expected to address the future of PKK members after their disarmament. Though the contents are still unclear, they are expected to include partial amnesty for those not actively involved in terrorist attacks. Sources told BBC Turkish that the law would be “temporary” and will be implemented only after it is verified that the PKK has fully abandoned weapons.

The PKK had taken the first step to end its more than 40-year campaign of terrorism in May 2025, announcing it would dissolve itself. In July 2025, the group held a ceremony in northern Iraq, with terrorists literally burning their weapons on the path to complete dissolution. All these moves were a culmination of the initiative launched by Bahçeli, who has called on the group’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan, to urge the PKK to lay down arms, and Öcalan has replied positively, making the said call in February 2025.

The initiative is largely proceeding in secrecy, except for visits to Öcalan by the members of pro-PKK Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and for regular meetings of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Committee, set up by Parliament to provide guidelines for the process.

AK Party spokesperson Ömer Çelik on Tuesday confirmed the reports regarding the framework law. Speaking to broadcaster Habertürk, Çelik said it was not the government delaying the process. Responding to the criticism that the process has slowed, Çelik said it was the terrorist group that has not taken the effective steps for disarmament.

“Every process has its own rhythm. Sometimes a month’s journey is completed in a day, sometimes a day’s journey takes a month,” he said. “There is no satisfactory level of disarmament yet; there is only rhetoric and a general outline,” he added.

“We have now reached a new stage. A legal framework is needed for (the PKK) to completely lay down its arms. This framework would be tied to the condition of disarmament.”

He emphasized that the proposed framework would only come into force if disarmament actually occurs.

Çelik stressed that there is a clear political will to implement legal regulations that would take effect once disarmament is achieved.

He also stated that a mechanism would be established to verify full disarmament, and this could involve the establishment of a separate state body for verification, decisions by the National Security Council (NSC), and reports by relevant state institutions, namely security agencies and ministries.

DAILYSABAH