Turkish lawmakers to vote on report advancing PKK peace process

By Ece Toksabay

ANKARA, February 18 (Reuters) – A Turkish parliamentary committee was set to vote on Wednesday to adopt a draft report that would facilitate the disarmament of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and advance a peace process to end more than 40 years of conflict.

In the approximately 60-page report shared with journalists before the vote in Ankara, legal reforms are recommended in parallel with the PKK’s disarmament, and a call is made for the judiciary to review the legislation and comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court.

In the draft, which provides a conditional legal framework, it is stated that the main objectives are “a Türkiye free from terrorism” and the strengthening of democracy. The draft sparked some objections from opposition parties earlier in the week.

A vote in support of the report would shift the peace process to the legislative stage, where President Tayyip Erdogan, Türkiye’s leader for more than two decades, would have the opportunity to end the bloody conflict between the PKK and the state, which has created deep political, economic and social discord within the country and spread violence across the borders into Iraq and Syria.

The commission was established in August 2025 to support a possible new phase in efforts to end the conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and disrupted economic development in Türkiye’s predominantly Kurdish southeast region.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing: Daren Butler; Editing: Jonathan Spicer)