Symbolic imageTurkish parliament clears path for PKK dissolution, Ocalan's status open
Turkey's parliament passed a law on Monday letting PKK fighters who disarm return to civilian life. Its leadership called the terms deficient.
Lawmakers passed the text on Monday, 10 August, by 468 votes to 88 with six abstentions, with support from Erdogan's AK Party, its nationalist ally MHP and the pro-Kurdish DEM. It grants no general amnesty but suspends prosecutions and sentences for certain offences for five to ten years, excluding those involved in serious crimes such as murder; a government commission and the MIT intelligence service are to oversee the disarmament. Turkish lawmakers said some 3,500 of nearly 10,000 PKK-linked detainees could go free in a first phase; the insurgency, begun in 1984, has killed more than 40,000 people, at least 50,000 by Le Monde's count.
PKK leadership objects
On Sunday, 9 August, the PKK leadership criticised 'serious errors and shortcomings' in the bill and said many provisions would stay ineffective unless Ocalan is freed, FAZ reports.
Ocalan not named
The law does not name the 77-year-old founder, jailed on Imrali since 1999, nor does it touch wider Kurdish demands on political and cultural rights. Vice-President Cevdet Yilmaz said his case 'does not fall under this law' and that he remains able to contribute to the process.
Other opinions
Global Times relayed Xinhua's account as a procedural landmark, without the PKK's objections or Ocalan.