Turkey’s parliament was set to open debate Monday on a draft bill that would introduce a conditional amnesty for thousands of Kurdish militants, offering them a pardon-like mechanism in a bid to advance the government’s peace initiative with their insurgent group.
Last year, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, ended its decades-long armed campaign against the Turkish state, declaring a decision to disarm and disband as part of the peace effort. The move came in response to a call from 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 12-article draft legislation outlines the procedures for the disarmament of the group – which still retains the bulk of its weapons – and the rehabilitation of thousands of PKK members.
The legislation would suspend some prison sentences for convicted PKK members and postpone ongoing investigations and trials for five or 10 years, depending on the severity of the alleged offenses. If no terror-related crime is committed within the time frame, the cases would be dropped.
