Parliament Passes Key Law in ‘Terror-Free Turkey’ Process

The Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration received 468 votes in favor and 88 against, with six abstentions, according to parliament’s official record.

The legislation sets out judicial and administrative procedures linked to the dissolution and disarmament of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union.

The measures can be applied only after security agencies verify that the PKK/KCK and affiliated formations no longer maintain an operational presence and have surrendered all weapons and ammunition. The National Security Council must endorse that finding in a decision published in the Official Gazette.

Eligible applicants will have six months to apply. Depending on the offense and sentence, investigations, trials and the execution of sentences may be postponed for five or 10 years.

Intentional killings committed as part of the organization’s activities and certain offenses committed before June 1, 2005, carrying life or aggravated life sentences are excluded.

The law also establishes an eight-member board chaired by the vice president to oversee implementation, along with a parliamentary commission that will monitor the process.

İYİ (Good) Party was the only parliamentary group to formally reject the measure. Its leader, Müsavat Dervişoğlu, argued that the law would grant privileges to PKK members and said his party would vote against it.

Yeni (New) Party leader Özgür Özel said he and senior party officials would support the law, while the party’s lawmakers would decide according to the views of their constituents.

“We will not stand in the way of peace,” Özel told parliament.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy chair Feti Yıldız rejected claims that the legislation amounted to an amnesty. He said it did not annul convictions, change the legal nature of offenses or end criminal responsibility.

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli helped set the current process in motion when he shook hands with Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmakers at parliament’s opening on Oct. 1, 2024.

After the vote, Bahçeli went to the DEM Party benches and congratulated co-chairs Tuncer Bakırhan and Tülay Hatimoğulları.

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş described the passage as a “historic achievement,” saying Turkey had demonstrated that it could address even its most difficult issue through political consensus.