ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Turkish Parliament’s Justice Committee on Saturday approved a 12-article bill establishing a legal framework to advance the peace process between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), with the legislation now set to go before the full parliament.

“The entire draft law on ‘Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,’ submitted to the Parliament's Justice Committee, was approved in a vote,” the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency reported.

Turkish lawmakers on Wednesday signed the legislature's long-awaited final draft of the legal framework for the peace process with the PKK, with the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) describing it as a “historic step” towards resolving the Kurdish question in Turkey. 

Both Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ultranationalist governing ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have supported the framework.

The Justice Committee meeting was marked by heated discussions, with the ultranationalist Good (IYI) Party objecting to several provisions of the draft, according to Mezopotamya Agency. The committee ultimately approved all of the bill’s provisions following more than 18 hours of discussion and is expected to be presented to the Parliament's General Assembly in 48 hours.

According to Turkish state media, the bill’s provisions will apply to those who notify authorities in writing “of their intention to benefit from these provisions” within six months of the National Security Council confirming that the PKK has completely ended its operations, surrendered its weapons and ammunition, and “ceased their actual existence.”

The bill does not establish a general amnesty for former PKK fighters. Instead, it aims to establish legal procedures for matters involving the postponement of certain sentences and the handling of ongoing prosecutions, according to state media.

The law also excludes crimes committed before 2005 that carried a death sentence or life imprisonment, as well as intentional killings committed as part of organizational activities, AKP deputy chairman Abdulhamit Gul said during the Justice Committee meeting, according to the Turkish parliament.

While expressing support for the move, however, DEM Party lawmakers criticized several provisions in the bill.

Lawmaker Zulkuf Ucar called for the removal of exception provisions, with Mezopotamya Agency quoting him as saying that the law should be “revised to cover everyone.”

Ucar also criticized unclear wording in provisions concerning “intentional killing committed” as part of organizational activities, warning that the ambiguity could lead to “significant interpretation differences in practice."

DEM Party lawmaker Gulcan Kacmaz also criticized the bill, telling Rojava (northeast Syria)-based ANHA that the law is “insufficient, with many flaws and deficiencies,” while noting that it represents a significant shift.

“The Kurdish issue cannot be resolved by a single bill," she said, urging that it should be considered a “first step" in the process. 

The developments come after nearly six months of limited progress regarding enacting the legal framework for the peace process that was initially signed in parliament earlier in the year, despite the PKK having agreed to dissolve itself and evacuate multiple of its military bases over that timeframe.