Türkiye is expected to bring a long-awaited framework bill to Parliament next week as part of its “terror-free Türkiye” initiative, establishing the legal basis for the disarmament of the PKK terrorist group and the return of its members from their camps in the region, while creating a parliamentary oversight mechanism to monitor the process.
Behind-the-scenes negotiations have intensified following consultations by Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş with political party leaders to finalize the scope of the legislation and secure its swift passage through the Parliament. Kurtulmuş is expected to hold another round of meetings with party representatives in the coming days.
The proposed legislation is expected to establish a Monitoring and Coordination Board, which will oversee the PKK's disarmament and the evacuation of its camps and caves.
Chaired by the vice president, the board will include officials from relevant ministries and technical experts. It will prepare verification reports addressing key questions, including how many weapons have been surrendered, how many PKK members have returned to Türkiye, and the overall situation on the ground. The reports will be submitted to Parliament every six months.
Subcommittees operating under the board will also be established to monitor former PKK members who return to Türkiye after laying down their arms, with the aim of preventing any renewed involvement in terrorist activities.
The draft legislation does not include any legal provisions or amnesty for the PKK's senior leadership.
Instead, discussions have focused on relocating senior PKK figures leaving the group's headquarters in Iraq's Qandil Mountains to Sulaymaniyah, a city administered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), rather than allowing them to move to a third country. Turkish authorities are expected to coordinate with Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to closely monitor those individuals.
The arrangement is intended to clarify the legal and practical status of senior PKK leaders who are not eligible to return to Türkiye.
Last week, Kurtulmuş launched consultations with political parties involved in the process, beginning with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, who is widely regarded as the architect of the initiative.
In 2024, Bahçeli publicly called on imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan to urge the group to lay down its arms. Öcalan issued such a call in February 2025, after which the PKK announced its decision to dissolve. Turkish security authorities, however, have not yet officially confirmed the group's complete disarmament, a key condition of the initiative.
Later the same day, Kurtulmuş met with representatives of the PKK-linked Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, whose members have acted as intermediaries between Öcalan and Turkish authorities during the process. Before the meeting, a DEM Party delegation had visited Öcalan at his prison on Imralı Island near Istanbul, where they conveyed his latest message to the public.
Kurtulmuş concluded Tuesday's consultations with a meeting with Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. The closed-door meeting at Parliament lasted about one hour.
On Wednesday, Kurtulmuş continued his consultations with Good Party (IP) leader Müsavat Dervişoğlu. The meeting, held behind closed doors at Dervişoğlu's parliamentary office, lasted about 50 minutes and was also attended by IP deputy parliamentary group chairs Uğur Poyraz and Turhan Çömez.
Speaking afterward, Dervişoğlu criticized what he described as major decisions being made "under inappropriate circumstances" and behind closed doors.
Kurtulmuş later met with senior officials from the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) in a closed-door meeting that lasted about one hour.
Following the meeting, AK Party Deputy Chairman Efkan Ala, who has played a key role in the consultations, declined to specify when the legislation would be introduced.
"We are holding discussions, and those discussions are continuing. Everyone is working on it," Ala told reporters.
