By Bosphorus News Türkiye Desk
A 12-article bill setting out the legal measures that would follow the verified dissolution and disarmament of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) moved toward formal submission to Türkiye's parliament on Wednesday after lawmakers from several parties added their signatures to the text.
Titled the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration, the draft establishes the conditions under which investigations, trials and final prison sentences linked to the PKK and its umbrella structure, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), could be suspended and later closed.
Its central provisions would not take effect solely on the basis of a declaration by the organization. Turkish security institutions would first have to determine that the PKK/KCK and affiliated structures had ended their activities and surrendered the weapons and ammunition under their control.
The National Security Council (MGK) would then confirm the assessment through a decision published in the Official Gazette, making state verification the formal trigger for implementation.
DEM Party, MHP and HÜDA PAR lawmakers add signatures
Lawmakers from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Free Cause Party (HÜDA PAR) added their names to the proposed text as it moved toward submission to parliament.
The DEM Party delegation included co-chairs Tülay Hatimoğulları and Tuncer Bakırhan, lawmakers involved in contacts with jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan and members serving on relevant parliamentary committees.
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli and senior party figures had previously signed the document, while HÜDA PAR lawmakers also joined the process, according to party and media accounts.
Public reporting did not establish whether the signatures amounted to formal legislative sponsorship or political endorsement of a negotiated text. That distinction cannot be confirmed without the final proposal cover and a numbered entry in parliament's legislative database.
The involvement of several parties nevertheless gives the initiative a broader political base, although signing the draft does not necessarily indicate how each party will vote during committee or plenary proceedings.
Which offences would be covered
The bill applies to a defined set of offences connected to PKK/KCK activity, including establishing or directing the organization, membership, knowingly providing assistance, propaganda and certain crimes committed on its behalf.
Relevant offences under Türkiye's legislation on preventing the financing of terrorism would also fall within its scope.
Intentional killings committed as part of the organization's activities would be excluded.
The text would also leave out investigations and prosecutions involving offences committed before June 1, 2005, where the applicable punishment is life imprisonment or aggravated life imprisonment.
These limits distinguish the proposed mechanism from a general amnesty and leave the most serious acts of violence outside its coverage.
Five and 10-year suspension periods
For suspects and defendants whose cases have not reached a final judgment, the bill establishes two suspension periods based on the applicable sentence.
Investigations and prosecutions involving offences punishable by up to 15 years in prison could be suspended for five years. Cases carrying penalties above 15 years, including eligible life and aggravated life terms, could be suspended for 10 years.
Suspension decisions could be appealed within two weeks. Detention and judicial-control measures could also be lifted where the legal grounds for maintaining them no longer existed.
Cases already before an appellate court would return to the court of first instance, which would decide whether the new law applied.
If the individual committed no further offence during the suspension period, prosecutors could close the investigation and courts could dismiss pending proceedings. Limitation periods would remain frozen throughout the suspension.
Final prison sentences could also be suspended
The same five and 10-year timetable would apply to convictions that had already become final.
An enforcement judge could suspend prison terms totaling 15 years or less for five years, while longer sentences and eligible life terms could be suspended for 10 years.
A sentence would be regarded as served if the individual completed the relevant period without committing another offence.
The bill would therefore create a conditional legal route rather than immediately erase criminal responsibility. Proceedings and sentences would remain suspended while authorities monitored both the wider disarmament process and the conduct of each applicant.
Courts could also remove some consequences attached to a conviction, including restrictions on certain civil or public rights, where the conditions set out in the law had been met.
Presidency and parliament would oversee implementation
A senior executive board chaired by a vice president would coordinate the process.
Its members would include the ministers of justice, foreign affairs, interior and national defense, the presidential secretary-general, the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the secretary-general of the MGK.
Parliament would establish a separate 17-member monitoring commission, giving political parties a formal role in following implementation.
The interior and national defense ministries would jointly prepare procedures for registering individuals who surrender, as well as the weapons and ammunition handed over, after consulting the relevant security institutions.
Applicants would have six months to file a written request after the MGK decision confirming disarmament appeared in the Official Gazette.
The executive board would review suspension decisions periodically and could ask the relevant court or enforcement judge to remove legal restrictions resulting from an investigation, prosecution or conviction. Such requests could be made after two years in cases involving a five-year suspension and after three years in cases subject to a 10-year period.
A more detailed framework than the 2014 law
Türkiye adopted a six-article law in 2014 authorizing the government to take political, legal, social and security measures during the earlier Kurdish peace process.
That law gave the executive broad authority to conduct contacts, support the return and social integration of people who surrendered their weapons and coordinate state institutions.
The new text goes further in defining how pending investigations, active trials, final sentences, application deadlines and institutional oversight would be handled.
It also establishes a sequence linking verification by security institutions, an MGK decision, publication in the Official Gazette and individual applications.
The provisions may still change once the bill is formally registered and begins moving through committee and plenary debate.
Source note: The provisions and reported signatures are based on Turkish media accounts and statements from the parties involved. At the time of publication, Bosphorus News had not located a numbered proposal or final legislative file in parliament's public database, and the formal procedural status of the signatures remained unclear.
Sources: TRT Haber, DEM Party, MHP, HÜDA PAR, Turkish legislative records, Bosphorus News review and reporting.