Türkiye prepares next phase of PKK disarmament

ANKARA

Türkiye is preparing the next phase of the PKK’s disarmament process, with official verification of weapons handovers required before any legal relief or return arrangements can begin.

The Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration was adopted on Aug. 10 and published in the Official Gazette on Aug. 18.

Although the law is already in force, its provisions on postponing investigations, trials and prison sentences can be applied only after security agencies determine that the PKK/KCK and affiliated structures have ended their operational presence and surrendered all weapons and ammunition.

The National Security Council (MGK) must then confirm that assessment in a decision published in the Official Gazette.

A Monitoring and Evaluation Board chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz held its first meeting on Aug. 24 and established a roadmap for implementing the legislation.

“We made very important decisions there. We created a roadmap,” Yılmaz said on Aug. 27, adding that security institutions would assess developments on the ground.

Turkish media reports said the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) was coordinating with authorities in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over a monitored weapons-handover process in northern Iraq.

Under the law, surrendered weapons, ammunition, vehicles, explosives and other materials must be registered. The Interior and Defense ministries will determine the procedures after consulting security agencies. The government has not announced the handover sites, a timetable or the number of potential returnees.

Once the MGK decision is published, eligible individuals will have six months to apply. Depending on the offense, investigations, trials and sentences may be postponed for five or 10 years. The law excludes intentional killings committed as part of the organization and certain offenses committed before June 1, 2005, carrying life sentences. Each case will be assessed individually.

The process also follows the Syrian Democratic Forces’ formal dissolution on Aug. 25 and the integration of its military, security and administrative bodies into Syrian state institutions. Türkiye regards the YPG, the main component of the SDF, as the PKK’s Syrian branch.

Authorities have meanwhile pledged to act against attempts to disrupt the process. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said on Aug. 30 that four suspects had been detained after photographs of PKK members were hung from utility poles in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

“No one who seeks to obstruct the ‘terror-free Türkiye’ process will be tolerated,” he said.