Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is set to stay behind bars despite a partial amnesty offered by Turkey to members of the militant group.
A 12-point plan to “reintegrate” former militants was unveiled on Tuesday, in the latest stage of a peace process after the PKK announced it was calling off its armed campaign last year. The draft legislation, submitted to parliament by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party, calls for many people convicted of PKK membership to have their sentences suspended.
Militants living outside Turkey would be given a six-month grace period to return without facing prosecution, as long as they were not involved in killings. However, offenders who committed serious crimes before 2005 would not be eligible for the amnesty. That would exclude Ocalan, who has lived in an island prison since 1999.
Ocalan, 77, founded the PKK in 1978. It waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades, with about 40,000 killed on both sides. The group is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the EU.
After several abortive peace initiatives, Ocalan told supporters last year to lay down arms and engage with democratic politics. He has since received unprecedented visits from MPs and spoken on camera for the first time in 25 years, while senior fighters based in Iraqi Kurdistan held a symbolic weapons-burning ceremony.
The PKK and some Kurdish civilians had demanded Ocalan's release as part of the group's dissolution process. His release would be highly unpopular in Turkey, where Ocalan is seen as responsible for the deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
The bill, which is expected to pass the assembly later this week, aims to end a decades-old conflict in part by facilitating the return to Turkey of potentially thousands of former PKK militants based in northern Iraq.
Turkey's intelligence agency would verify the group's disarmament. A committee including the Vice President and the head of the spy agency would oversee the militants' surrender and disarmament under the bill.
The bill has broad support in parliament, despite some scepticism that it will bring a lasting peace and sensitivities around the return to Turkey of former PKK members. Mr Erdogan's AK Party and its nationalist allies have signed the draft legislation, while the pro-Kurdish Dem Party and most other parties support it.
The outline of Turkey's reintegration policy was revealed in February in an 83-page parliamentary report seen by The National. It said people who “reject weapons and violence” should return to society, but warned against creating “a perception of impunity and amnesty”.
