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Turkey Preparing Law to Let PKK Fighters Return Under Peace Plan
A portrait of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan and a sign with the words “Serok Apo,” are displayed on a hillside in the Qandil mountains, Iraq, Oct. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Turkey is preparing a law to let thousands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters and civilians return home from hideouts in northern Iraq under negotiations to end generations of war.
A senior Middle East official and a Kurdish political party source in Turkey said the proposed law would protect those returning home but stop short of offering a general amnesty for crimes committed by former militants. Some militant leaders could be sent to third countries under the plans.
Bringing PKK guerrillas and their families home from their bases in mountainous northern Iraq is seen as one of the final hurdles in a peace process launched a year ago to end a war that has killed 40,000 people.
While officials have spoken publicly about reconciliation efforts in general terms, the sources disclosed details that have not previously been reported, including proposals for returns to take place in separate waves of civilians and fighters, and for commanders to be sent to third countries.
The Middle East official, describing the sensitive negotiations on condition of anonymity, said legislation to allow the returns could come before the Turkish parliament as soon as this month.
PLAN COULD INCLUDE SEPARATE WAVES OF RETURNS
Turkey‘s intelligence agency MIT, which has led talks with the PKK, did not immediately comment on the proposal. The PKK did not immediately comment.
Since Kurdish militants launched their insurgency in 1984 – originally with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state – the conflict has exerted a huge economic and social burden on Turkey and neighboring countries.
Ending it would boost NATO member Turkey‘s political and economic stability, and ease tensions in Iraq where the PKK is based, and Syria where Kurdish fighters have been allied with US forces.
In a major breakthrough, the PKK announced a decision in May to disarm and disband after a call to end its armed struggle from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan.
In July the group symbolically burned weapons, and last month it announced it was withdrawing fighters from Turkey as part of the disarmament process. It called on Ankara to take steps to let its members participate in “democratic politics.”
But the terms of reconciliation have been sensitive, with Turkey wary of offering a wide amnesty for what it considers past crimes of a terrorist organization.
Numan Kurtulmus, who heads a reconciliation commission set up by Turkey in August, said last week that any legal steps would come only after Turkey verifies that the PKK has completed its dissolution process.
“Once Turkey’s security and intelligence units have verified and confirmed that the organization has truly laid down its arms and completed its dissolution process, the country will enter a new phase of legal regulations aimed at building a terror-free Turkey,” he said.
According to the senior Middle East official, the proposal now being discussed would see roughly 1,000 civilians and non-combatants return first, followed by about 8,000 fighters after individual screening.
Beyond that, the official said Turkey had so far rejected taking back around 1,000 senior and mid-level PKK figures, and wants them relocated to a third country, possibly in Europe.
Talks were ongoing on that issue, with some parties involved in the negotiations concerned that excluding PKK top brass from repatriation could eventually fuel a renewed insurgency, the official said.
Legislation to enable returns could come before the Turkish parliament as early as the end of November, the official added.
Tayip Temel, deputy co-chair of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party – which though an opposition party has worked closely with the government on the peace process – said the ongoing negotiations focused on a formula personally emphasized by Ocalan.
“Work is underway on a special law for the PKK to enable the democratic and social reintegration of its members,” Temel told Reuters.
“The law will cover everyone returning from the PKK, whether civilian or militant. There is no plan for a phased return. The formula being worked on is comprehensive and applies to all.”
He confirmed that Turkey had raised the idea of some PKK figures being sent to third countries, but said this would have to be discussed with the potential hosts.
DIFFERENT PROCEDURES FOR DIFFERENT GROUPS
Another source at DEM, parliament’s third-biggest party, said the commission drafting the proposal was working on a single, PKK-specific law that would avoid the language of a general amnesty.
“Different procedures will apply to different groups of returnees,” the source said, adding that some returning PKK members will likely face investigations and trials. “Otherwise, it will be hard to reach common ground among parties in the commission.”
Once the parliamentary commission completes its work, it is expected to recommend the special PKK law to parliament, paving the way for potential legislation.
Human Rights Watch urged lawmakers to use the peace process to reform laws that have long been used to charge and incarcerate non-violent Kurdish activists.
The commission “has a unique opportunity to help shape a post-conflict society and should make bold recommendations to repeal abusive laws used to silence and marginalize people,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW.
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Ukraine, Russia Swap 193 Prisoners of War Each in US, UAE-Facilitated Exchange
Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) react after a swap, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location in Ukraine, April 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov
Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner of war swap on Friday, sending back 193 captured personnel each in an exchange both sides said was facilitated by the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
“It is important that there are exchanges and that our people are returning home,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a post on Telegram.
His chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, and Russia‘s defence ministry said the US and the UAE had assisted with the exchange.
Russia and Ukraine have conducted many prisoner swaps over four years of war, exchanging thousands of captives in total.
Zelenskiy said some of the returned captives, who included soldiers, border guards, and police, had injuries, while others had faced criminal charges in Russia.
In Ukraine, returning captives streamed off buses, many draped in their country’s flag and overwhelmed with emotion.
“It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m home, I was in captivity for three years … our Ukrainian sky, our trees — this is happiness,” said Serhiy, a soldier, who gave only his first name.
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Main Suspect in Syria’s Tadamon Massacre Arrested, Ministry Says
Residents gather in a street after Friday prayers to celebrate the arrest of Amjad Yousef, a key suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, in Tadamon, Syria, April 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Friday it had arrested the main suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, one of the worst acts of violence attributed to the former government of Bashar al-Assad, in which 288 civilians were killed.
The ministry released footage of Amjad Yousef’s arrest in the Al-Ghab Plain area of Hama province in western Syria, near his hometown. Yousef had been hiding there since the overthrow of Assad at the end of 2024, a security source told Reuters.
US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack welcomed the arrest in a post on X, calling it an important step towards accountability for atrocities committed during Syria’s war.
DOCUMENTING THE MASSACRE
Yousef, 40, a former member of military intelligence under Assad, was thrust into the spotlight in April 2022 when the UK’s Guardian newspaper published videos provided by two academics that they said showed him forcing blindfolded civilians to run towards a pit in the Tadamon neighborhood of southern Damascus before shooting them.
Annsar Shahoud, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam Holocaust and Genocide Center and one of the academics, spent four years documenting the massacre.
Posing as an online fangirl, Shahoud gained Yousef’s trust and ultimately obtained his confessions both on video and audio recording.
Reuters was unable to reach Yousef for comment as he has been taken into custody.
The massacre is one of the most egregious documented incidents of violence attributed to the Assad government during the 14-year bloody war that began in 2011.
After Assad’s fall at the end of 2024, civilians, media outlets and international organizations went to the site of the massacre to inspect it and interview witnesses. Locals refer to the site as “Amjad Yousef’s Pit.” It has been marked on Google Maps as “The Site of the Tadamon Massacre.”
Ahmed Adra, a Tadamon resident and a member of the neighborhood committee, said victims’ families had been celebrating in the streets since morning.
“We will take white roses and plant them at the site of the massacre and tell the victims that their memory is alive and that justice is being served,” he told Reuters.
Shahoud said she now felt safe with Yousef in custody, but added the path to justice in Syria was unclear and did not include all perpetrators.
“I feel safe now, despite the distance, because I always felt for years that this person was after me,” she told Reuters.
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Merz Floats Sanctions Relief for Iran Peace Deal, Other EU Leaders Cautious
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks during a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 4, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested on Friday that the European Union could ease sanctions on Tehran as part of a comprehensive deal that would end the Iran war, but other EU leaders struck a more cautious note.
The 27-nation EU has imposed sanctions on Iran for years, including travel bans and asset freezes for senior officials and entities, in response to human rights violations, nuclear activities, and military support for Russia.
US officials have suggested a comprehensive deal covering Iran‘s nuclear and missile programs and the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz could bring a lasting end to the US-Israeli war with Tehran, beyond the current ceasefire.
After an EU summit in Cyprus, Merz said the bloc could gradually ease sanctions on Iran in the event that a comprehensive agreement was reached.
European leaders have been largely sidelined in the current Middle East conflict but some European officials see the bloc’s sanctions as a possible way for the EU to be involved in a diplomatic solution.
“The easing of sanctions can be part of a process,” Merz told reporters after the Nicosia summit.
“No one has objected to that,” he said of the summit deliberations. “It is, so to speak, part of the contribution we can make to advance this process and, hopefully, lead to a permanent ceasefire.”
But European Council President Antonio Costa, the chair of the summit, told a press conference after the end of the meeting: “It is too early to talk about relieving any kind of sanctions.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said sanctions relief could only come after clear evidence of fundamental changes of course from Iran.
“We believe that sanctions relief should be conditional on verification of de-escalation, particularly on progress on the international effort to contain its nuclear threat, and on a change to the repression of its own people,” she told the same press conference.