ISTANBUL: Turkish lawmakers on Monday voted through a bill offering limited amnesty for Kurdish PKK militants, a key step in the peace process that seeks to end decades of deadly violence.

The law is Turkiye’s first legislative step towards ending the conflict and comes 18 months after Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), urged his followers to disarm.

After 12 hours of debate, lawmakers voted by 468 in favour to 88 against, with six abstentions, for the so-called “terror-free Turkey law” which envisages a return to civilian life for some of the PKK fighters who lay down their weapons without granting a total amnesty.—AFP