ISTANBUL: Turkish lawmakers voted through a bill on Monday offering limited amnesty for Kurdish fighters, a key step in the peace process that seeks to end decades of deadly violence.

The law is Turkiye’s first legislative step towards ending the conflict and comes 18 months after Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), urged his followers to disarm.

The text, which passed by 468 votes in favour to 88 against, with six abstentions, envisages a return to civilian life for some of the PKK fighters who lay down their weapons without granting a total amnesty.

But crucially, it does not specify what will become of Ocalan, 77, who has spent the past 27 years being held in solitary confinement on Imrali prison island near Istanbul.

Ocalan has played a key role in efforts to end the conflict, issuing a historic call in February last year for his fighters to disarm and embrace democratic means to defend the rights of Kurdish minority.

Backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the pro-Kurdish DEM party, the bill suspends prosecutions and prison sentences for some offences for between five and 10 years.

The move is expected to involve the release of around 3,500 PKK-linked detainees in an initial phase, lawmakers said -- around a third of the number held in Turkish prisons.

If those covered by the measure do not reoffend during that period, investigations would be dropped and sentences considered served.

But those involved in serious crimes such as murder would be excluded -- with the text making no mention of Ocalan.

Last week, Turkiye’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said Ocalan’s case “does not fall within the scope of this law”, but added the aging leader would be “in a position to contribute to the peace process”.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026