India, Aug. 6 -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party on Wednesday filed a bill in parliament to advance a peace initiative aimed at ending the decades-long conflict with Kurdish militants, including a provision for an effective pardon for former fighters.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, last year declared its decision to disarm and disband as part of the peace effort with Turkey, following a call by its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

The PKK then staged a symbolic disarmament ceremony in northern Iraq, where it is based, and announced that it was withdrawing fighters from key locations in Turkey to Iraq. The bill toward "strengthening national solidarity and social cohesion" defines the procedures for overse...