ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan on Tuesday urged lasting legal guarantees to secure the “Kurdish-Turkish alliance,” calling it a “cornerstone” for Turkey’s future over a year since the group held a symbolic laying down of weapons ceremony.

A delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) traveled to Imrali Island on Monday, where Ocalan is held. 

The imprisoned PKK leader shared a message through the delegation, where he said that “the Kurdish-Turkish alliance is the foundation of Anatolia's common future,” stressing, “It is a cornerstone.”

“It is possible to secure this alliance with lasting legal guarantees through legal regulations and to live together equally and freely in a democratic republic. Negative law must be transformed into positive law,” he added.

The pro-Kurdish party has repeatedly urged the parliamentary commission tasked with drafting the legal framework to release the draft legislation approved by parliament in February, citing the need for swift action before the legislature's summer recess.

In February, the Turkish parliament approved a report drafted by the committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of the process. The report called for not labeling non-violent actions and freedom of expression as “terrorism”, and for the reintegration of PKK members who gave up their weapons back into society.

“The time has come to create a legal framework that respects mutual sensitivities. Aware that opening this path with patience is a historic opportunity, let us all together weave a common life, abandoning simplistic, narrow, and future-neutral approaches,” Ocalan said.

A day earlier, a member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Leyla Sahin Usta said a legislative proposal will be presented soon and that a legal regulation is underway.

“Everyone should do their best to initiate the legal process, as outlined in the report prepared by the Turkish Grand National Assembly's National Solidarity, Brotherhood, and Democracy Commission, to completely eliminate conflict and weapons, and to open a brand new page,” Ocalan added.

In July 2025, the PKK held a symbolic disarmament ceremony in Sulaimani province. Despite over a year passing, the Turkish parliament’s commission tasked with finalizing the peace process has yet to propose a legal framework for the next steps.

“Despite the passage of a year, we see that politics has not given a realistic response to this historical turning point,” senior DEM Party lawmaker Gulistan Kilic said earlier this month, criticizing “a lack of genuine legal frameworks and political responses.”

The Turkish parliament extended its legislative session beyond its scheduled July 1 summer recess, with the new legislative year set to begin on October 1.

Ocalan made a historic call from prison in February 2025, which was subsequently followed by the PKK announcing its intention to lay down its arms and dissolve in May.