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Background

The Kurdish peace process

Turkey's framework law, in force since 18 August 2026, suspends the sentences of PKK members rather than erasing them. Its deferrals begin only when the National Security Council confirms in the Official Gazette that the group has dissolved and handed over its weapons, and it says nothing about Öcalan's own status.

Turkey's framework law took effect on 18 August 2026 as Law No. 7595. It defers the sentences of PKK members rather than erasing them. Nothing starts until the National Security Council certifies that the group has dissolved and handed over its weapons, and that decision has not come.
The Kurdish peace process

The process began in October 2024, when Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the nationalist MHP and Erdoğan's coalition partner, said Abdullah Öcalan could be given a right to hope if he declared the PKK dissolved. Öcalan made that call in February 2025. The PKK held a congress that May which voted to disband, burned weapons at a symbolic ceremony in northern Iraq in July and began moving fighters out of Turkey. Parliament set up a commission on national solidarity, brotherhood and democracy, which reported on 18 February 2026.

That report became a law. The Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration, twelve articles, was filed on 5 August 2026 with 360 signatures from six parties. Parliament's Justice Committee adopted it on 8 August after about eighteen hours of deliberation, the General Assembly passed it on 10 August with 467 votes in favour, and Erdoğan signed it. It appeared in the Official Gazette on 18 August as Law No. 7595 and took effect the same day.

The law defers punishment rather than cancelling it. Investigations and prosecutions are frozen for five years where the offence carries a statutory maximum of fifteen years or less, ten where it carries more. Sentences already imposed follow the same clocks, set by their length. A terror offence in that window lifts the deferral, and the prosecution or prison term resumes. A window passed without one closes the case or counts the sentence as served. Killing for the organisation is excluded, as are offences before 1 June 2005 that carry life.

The government kept a general amnesty off the statute book and took implementation into its own hands. A board chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz runs it, seating the justice, foreign, interior and defence ministers, the presidency's secretary general and the intelligence chief. The law's own rationale insists it removes no conviction and ends no criminal responsibility. The DEM Party got a legal route home for members abroad and in prison, and put its name to a text the government backed.

The law is in force and its deferrals are not. They begin only when security institutions establish that the PKK has ended its existence and handed over its weapons, and the National Security Council publishes a decision confirming it. On 19 August bianet reported that no such decision had come, so the six-month window for applying has not opened either. The council's communiqué of 6 August still put the PKK first among the terrorist organisations Turkey fights. The board meets for the first time on 24 August.

”With this law we are setting out to solve a historical problem. We are at the beginning of a democratisation process that will be at least as important as the founding of the republic.”
Abdullah ÖcalanFounder of the PKK, imprisoned on İmralı since 1999

The numbers

What was filed, and who signed
360
The bill “on strengthening national solidarity and social integration” was submitted to parliament on 5 August 2026 with 360 signatures from six parties: the AKP, MHP, DEM, CHP, Yeni Yol and HÜDA PAR. Yeni Parti, the CHP splinter that now holds main opposition status, and the nationalist İYİ did not sign.
bianet
How it became law
467
The General Assembly passed the law on 10 August 2026. By bianet's count 467 deputies voted in favour, 87 against and seven abstained. Parliament then went into recess until 1 October.
bianet
When it took effect
7595
The law was published in the Official Gazette on 18 August 2026 as Law No. 7595 and took effect the same day. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said the board that the law sets up existed from the day of publication, and that it meets for the first time on 24 August to settle its working rules and its sub-committees.
bianet
The democratisation amendments the committee rejected
In the Justice Committee, Yeni Parti tabled amendments to write democratisation into the law. It wanted the title changed to name brotherhood and democracy, and a paragraph added to the first article, which sets out the law's purpose and scope, saying it also covers legal changes to local government, to the courts and prison enforcement, and to rights and freedoms. It also wanted the offences of insulting the president and of publicly spreading misleading information repealed, and an end to the practice of appointing state trustees over elected municipal administrations. Cumhuriyet reports that all of them were rejected, and that Yeni Parti, which had not signed the bill, voted for it at the end.
Cumhuriyet
The text itself, and the condition in Article 1
On 5 August bianet published the full twelve-article text together with the rationale for each article. Under Article 1, everything applies only after security institutions have established that the PKK/KCK has ended its existence and surrendered all weapons and ammunition, and a National Security Council decision confirming that finding has been published in the Official Gazette. Under Article 9, anyone seeking to benefit must give written notice within six months of that publication.
bianet
How long sentences are deferred, and who is left out
Under Article 3, investigations and prosecutions are deferred for five years where the offence carries a statutory maximum of fifteen years or less, and for ten years where the maximum is higher. Under Article 6, the enforcement of sentences already imposed is deferred for five years where they total fifteen years or less, and for ten years where they are longer, including life and aggravated life. If a terror offence is committed during the deferral, the decision is lifted and the investigation, the prosecution or the enforcement continues. If the period passes without an offence, the case is closed or the sentence counts as served. Intentional killing within the organisation's activities is excluded, as are offences before 1 June 2005 carrying life or aggravated life.
bianet
What the text does not contain
bianet reports that the text as filed contains no direct provision on Abdullah Öcalan's status and nothing on a general amnesty.
bianet
The rationale in the text itself
The general rationale published with the text says it “is not a regulation that removes convictions, changes the legal character of offences or ends criminal responsibility”, and that pending proceedings and final convictions retain all their legal consequences.
bianet
What the National Security Council said on 6 August
The communiqué from the council's meeting of 6 August 2026, chaired by Erdoğan, still puts “PKK/KCK-PYD/YPG” first among the terrorist organisations Turkey is fighting. bianet notes the wording is the same as always.
bianet
The lawyers' objection
Criminal law professor İzzet Özgenç, one of the principal drafters of Turkey's penal code, and constitutional law professor Tolga Şirin both argue that the proposal could function in practice as a conditional general amnesty. Şirin, whose assessment was published by the T24 news website, warns the law could face constitutional challenge if passed without the larger majority required for general amnesties.
Turkish Minute
What the PKK asked for in July
Three weeks before the text was filed, the PKK said a law that did not cover Öcalan and the senior leadership would solve nothing, and that a text passing over his status would obstruct its own implementation from the outset. The group demanded the law cover everyone from Öcalan to rank-and-file members and allow their participation in democratic politics.
Turkish Minute
Why the law leaves Öcalan out
Öcalan is serving an aggravated life sentence for offences committed before 1 June 2005. bianet writes that this exclusion means he cannot benefit from the law's deferral of enforcement.
bianet

What the comparison shows

Where they agree

Deputies from six parties, from the MHP to the DEM Party, signed the bill, and the General Assembly passed it with 467 votes in favour. Yeni Parti had not signed and voted for it in committee anyway. They agree that the PKK's dissolution should be settled by law in parliament rather than by fighting. One party group stands outside that agreement: İYİ, which says an armed organisation cannot dissolve itself.

Where they split

The law's own rationale says it removes no conviction, changes no offence's legal character and ends no criminal responsibility, but only regulates the legal consequences of a disbandment. Two law professors, İzzet Özgenç and Tolga Şirin, reply that it can work in practice as a conditional general amnesty and would then need a larger majority in parliament. İHD, the Human Rights Association, objects from the other direction: the exclusions and the limits on political activity leave the law too narrow for a lasting peace. Öcalan welcomed the text three weeks after the PKK said a law that left him out would solve nothing.

What nobody is saying

The law has no clause on Öcalan's status and none on his release. The PKK said in July that a law passing over him and the senior leadership would solve nothing and would obstruct its own implementation. The democratisation part of the commission's report of 18 February 2026 did not make it into the text. Yeni Parti's amendments to put it there were voted down in committee, and the party voted for the law anyway. Parliament is in recess until 1 October.

Who says what

Devlet Bahçeli, Leader of the nationalist MHP, Erdoğan's coalition partner

Started the process in October 2024 and asks for more than the law gives. He wants Öcalan granted a right to hope, a legal change that would open a path to release for a prisoner serving aggravated life. He also wants Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed Kurdish politician, sent home.

”Selahattin Demirtaş evine, Ahmetler görevine, Öcalan umut hakkına kavuşmalıdır.”Selahattin Demirtaş should return home, the two Ahmets should return to office, and Öcalan should be granted the right to hope.
Source: bianet · Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Abdullah Öcalan, Founder of the PKK, imprisoned on İmralı since 1999

A DEM Party delegation visited him on İmralı on 2 August and published his words the next day, two days before the text was filed. He welcomed the law that was coming and called it a key that would open the process. The delegation was Pervin Buldan, Mithat Sancar and Özgür Faik Erol.

”Bu yasa ile tarihsel bir sorunu çözmek için yola çıkıyoruz. En az Cumhuriyet’in kuruluşu kadar önemli olacak bir demokratikleşme sürecinin başlangıcındayız.”With this law we are setting out to solve a historical problem. We are at the beginning of a democratisation process that will be at least as important as the founding of the republic.
Source: bianet · Monday, 3 August 2026
Ayşegül Doğan, Spokesperson for the pro-Kurdish DEM Party

Calls the law a first step that should neither be inflated nor dismissed, and says her party will keep naming its shortcomings.

”Bir gün, bir an ya da bir dönemle sınırlı olmayan siyasi ve hukuki bir inşa sürecinin ilk kapısı aralandı”The first door has been opened onto a political and legal process of construction that is not limited to one day, one moment or one period
Source: bianet · Thursday, 6 August 2026
Özgür Özel, Leader of Yeni Parti, the CHP splinter that now holds main opposition status

Backs the process but calls the text carelessly drafted, and his party did not sign it. He wants democratisation to run alongside the law: the Constitutional Court's ruling on Can Atalay carried out, mayors replaced by state trustees reinstated, and political prisoners freed. He is now pressing the parties that did sign to stand behind their signatures.

”Altıncı madde ile demokratikleşme kısmının peş peşe değil, iç içe olması gerektiğini söyledik. Silahların bırakıldığının teyit ve tespitine kadar geçecek süre demokratikleşme adımlarının atılacağı süredir. İmza namustur.”We have said that the sixth article and the democratisation part should not follow one another but be interwoven. The time until the laying down of weapons is confirmed and established is the time in which the steps towards democratisation are to be taken. A signature is a matter of honour.
Source: bianet · Thursday, 6 August 2026
Uğur Poyraz, Parliamentary group deputy chair of the nationalist opposition İYİ Party

Rejects the premise outright. By his own account İYİ was the only party group that refused to sign the report of parliament's commission on national solidarity, brotherhood and democracy, and its request for a general debate on the bill in the chamber was voted down.

”Bu PKK sözde hukuki bir organizasyon mudur ki kendini feshetsin?”Is this PKK a so-called legal organisation, such that it could dissolve itself?
Source: Cumhuriyet · Wednesday, 5 August 2026
İnsan Hakları Derneği, Turkey's Human Rights Association, known as İHD, active since 1986 and strongest in the Kurdish provinces

Calls the bill an important first step but wants a wider scope: drop the sorting by offence type and date, and drop the restriction on political activity during the deferral period.

”Silahın yerine ikame edilmek istenen siyasi faaliyetlere katılımın kısıtlanması kabul edilebilir bir tutum değildir.”Restricting participation in the very political activity that is meant to replace the weapons is not an acceptable position.
Source: bianet · Thursday, 6 August 2026

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