Turkiye approves pardon-like bill for thousands of PKK fighters

Turkiye's parliament has approved legislation offering a conditional pardon to thousands of members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), in a major step towards ending a four-decade conflict. The law allows some PKK-linked detainees to have prosecutions or prison sentences suspended for five to 10 years, with an initial release of around 3,500 people expected. Those convicted of killings and other serious offences would be excluded, as would the PKK's jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan. The legislation follows the PKK's decision to dissolve and disarm after Ocalan called for an end to its armed struggle in February 2025. The conflict began in 1984 and has killed more than 40,000 people, while spreading beyond Türkiye into Iraq, Syria and Iran. Supporters hope the law can help end decades of violence, but the government has made the process conditional and reversible.

Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu reports from Istanbul.

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