ANKARA(National Times)- A majority of Turkish MPs on Wednesday backed limited and conditional amnesty for PKK fighters, a first legislative step to end decades of deadly fighting.
Entitled “Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,” the bill, which will be put to a vote soon, was signed by 360 of 592 MPs. They include lawmakers from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, its ally the MHP, and the pro-Kurdish DEM party.
But the main opposition grouping, the newly created Yeni Parti, did not join, regretting they were given access to the text.
“I hope that this measure, which aims to rid Turkiye once and for all of the terrorist threat, to strengthen our national unity and solidarity, and to consolidate the climate of peace in our country and our region, will bear fruit,” Erdogan said on X.
“The draft law… drawn up following extensive consultations was presented today to our parliament with broad consensus, reflecting our nation’s determination to find solutions,” he said.
The proposed law does not specify what will become of Abdullah Ocalan, the 77-year-old founder and longtime leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who has spent 27 years in solitary confinement on a prison island. Ocalan had responded favourably to the peace initiative by calling on the movement to renounce armed struggle and lay down its weapons.
The draft law “constitutes a basic framework that represents the first step in the legislative process” aimed at “restoring peace and brotherhood” in Turkiye and in the region, according to its preamble.
It includes a mechanism opening the way for PKK fighters to return to civilian life in Turkey, on condition that the armed organisation “has ceased to exist in practice and handed over all weapons and ammunition under its control, and that a decision by the National Security Council confirming this determination has been published in the Official Gazette.”
The launching of investigations and the execution of sentences relating to “the creation, management and propaganda of the PKK, as well as membership” in the armed group and the activities arising from it, including its financing, will be subject to a suspension of between five and 10 years, depending on the charges brought against the fighters.
If there are no repeat offences during the suspension period, investigations will be closed and sentences will be considered served, which could amount to a de facto amnesty.
The text however excludes from the amnesty “intentional homicides” and “crimes punishable by life imprisonment committed before June 1, 2005.“
