Ankara, Turkey. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that work was underway on a legal framework to speed up the disbandment of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and that the legislation would be put on parliament’s agenda without much delay.
The announcement points to a possible breakthrough after a peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK had slowed sharply in recent months amid the Iran war and concerns over broader regional instability.
Legislation to be submitted to parliament
Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament that the government was preparing a legal framework aimed at accelerating the group’s dissolution.
“At the point we have reached, we are working on a legal framework that will speed up the disbandment of the group. Once the necessary deliberations have been made, we will present the legislation in question to parliament without too much delay,” Erdogan said, without providing further details.
Peace process and political criticism
Turkey announced last November its plans to establish a new legal framework, but Kurdish politicians in the country had accused the government of moving too slowly.
The process had come close to a standstill in recent months because of the Iran war and the concerns it raised about further instability in the region.
PKK decision to disarm
The PKK, which fought a decades-long separatist insurgency against the Turkish state and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, decided in May 2025 to disarm and disband following an appeal from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Erdogan also said the integration of Syrian Kurdish militants into Syria’s state apparatus, a key part of the process, was moving forward.
Background of the insurgency
The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984. It initially sought an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey, but later shifted its demands to autonomy and Kurdish political rights.
