Share this article:XBlueskyFacebookGet Article LinkTurkey’s parliament approved a law yesterday that formalizes the peace process initiated with a prominent Kurdish militant group two years ago. Under the law, members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who are serving prison sentences for nonviolent crimes would be eligible for pardon and release, while those outside the country (mainly in Iraq) would be allowed to return to Turkey. Those steps would be contingent on Turkey’s National Security Council certifying that the PKK—which has been designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the U.S.—has followed through on its promise to disarm and demobilize its fighters, and dissolve as an entity. The legislation marks the most significant step that Ankara has taken to advance the peace process with the PKK, which has fought for self-determination for Turkey’s ethnic Kurdish minority for four decades. The current efforts to resolve the conflict began two years ago, when the Turkish government engaged in secret talks with the PKK’s imprisoned charismatic leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who has been held in near-isolation since his conviction in 1999 for treason and separatism.