Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
On Aug. 10, Turkey’s parliament passed what many will call an amnesty for PKK members, on the strict condition that no one call it that. The word appears nowhere in the law, which is titled, in Turkish, the Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration.
As domestic political tensions remain high following a parliamentary visit to PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island on Nov. 24, the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission has again delayed its meeting. The commission will now convene for its 19th session on Dec. 4, ten days after the visit.
The new legislative year of the Turkish Parliament opened without the CHP, which boycotted the session in protest at President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ongoing crackdown—starting debate over parliamentary legitimacy. Erdoğan swiftly countered the criticism, declaring that “legitimacy comes from the people.” He followed his remarks with a symbolic gesture: shaking hands with all parliamentary group leaders, including first-time photo-ops after many years with the heads of AKP offshoots DEVA and the Gelecek Party. Notably, Erdoğan coolly used his address to tell the pro-Kurdish DEM Party that the next phase on the Kurdish issue will be implementation. Praising the work of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission for holding 12 meetings so far with broad participation from political parties, Erdoğan said, “Once the commission completes its work, we will undoubtedly have very important findings in hand. The next phase will be the implementation of the proposals raised within the commission, as a result of consultation and consensus.”
Hours before parliament’s “National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission” was to listen to the views of mothers whose children were lost to PKK or state violence, a white Renault 12 Toros — long remembered as a symbol of Turkey’s unsolved killings in the 1990s — was set on fire at Parliament’s Çankaya gate.
Turkey’s newly formed National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission—tasked with preparing the framework for the PKK’s disarmament—has held its first meeting thanks to a rare cross-party consensus in parliament. The eight-hour session marked a symbolic start to what could become a historic process.
With the start of 2026, the future of the peace initiative on the Kurdish issue remains uncertain. The mandate of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, which includes representatives from all parliamentary parties except the İYİ Party, was extended by two months, and the commission has once again delayed finalizing its report, now expected in January.
Democrat Party (DP) Izmir Deputy Haydar Altıntaş has announced the party's withdrawal from the National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission, citing objections to the delegation’s visit to İmralı where PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has been jailed since 1999.
The National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission postponed its meeting scheduled for Nov. 13 for a second time after a Turkish military cargo plane crashed near the Georgia–Azerbaijan border, but the second postponement is now delaying the commission’s roadmap as well.
At the 13th meeting of the National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission, lawyers were heard on Oct. 2 and Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş stated that the listening phase is about to end. Although not announced officially, women’s and children’s rights defenders as well as the intelligence service are expected to be heard in the coming days, before concluding the listening phase.
The Parliament’s National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission listened to think-tankers and pollsters to test the ground for public support for the peace process. The 12th meeting of the commission established in the wake of PKK’s decision to disband and lay down arms took it to 50 days of work completed to date. The commission is now preparing to shift to drafting proposals in October.
DEM Party Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Gülistan Kılıç Koçyiğit has renewed her party’s call for the National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission to visit imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island.
Numan Kurtulmuş is currently the speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and as such also chairs the “National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission” formed to seek a solution to the Kurdish question. But if we were to borrow the rhetorical style of MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, we might ask: “Who is Kurtulmuş, where did he come from, and where is he heading?”