Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
As part of the new process in Türkiye to achieve a terror-free country, the parliamentary commission leading the process will meet for the third time on Tuesday.
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş on Monday has asked the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), and the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), to name one additional member each instead of the Good Party (IP), which did not participate in the National Unity, Fraternity and Democracy Committee. After the IP group announced its decision not to join the committee, a gap of three members emerged.
At the meeting, which will take place at 2 p.m., groups will submit proposals regarding the agenda. Commission chair Kurtulmuş will also share his own proposals with members. Deputies will also bring forward any individuals they would like the commission to hear from.
The committee, comprised of 48 lawmakers from most parties represented at Parliament, will weigh how the terror-free Türkiye initiative will proceed, especially in terms of laws and regulations regarding the status of the PKK terrorist group and its members. This may include lenient sentences for surrendering members of the group.
Although Parliament is in summer recess, the committee will continue to work without interruption. Kurtulmuş will serve as chairperson but is not eligible to vote in the committee’s voting processes. AK Party’s committee members include former Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül. CHP’s committee members will consist of deputy parliamentary group chair Murat Emir, Deputy Chairs Gökçe Gökçen and Murat Bakan, and lawmakers from Istanbul, Diyarbakır, Ankara and Muğla. Among them are Türkan Elçi, the widow of Diyarbakır Bar Association’s former Chair Tahir Elçi, who died in 2015 in crossfire during a shootout between police officers and PKK members, and Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a prominent parliamentarian who has often made headlines for his heavy criticism of counterterrorism efforts.
The committee will not directly propose bills but will likely refer its reports to other subcommittees of Parliament, which will then discuss and vote on bills for their referral to the Parliament’s General Assembly. The General Assembly is the ultimate authority in Parliament to pass laws. Throughout its tenure, the committee will also hear statements of stakeholders involved or affected by the initiative, from the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which monitors the PKK’s disarmament, to families of terror victims. The committee is expected to recommend amendments in counterterrorism laws and the Turkish Penal Code to accommodate the needs of the initiative, especially in terms of the situation of people convicted of terrorism or aiding and abetting the PKK.
‘Work to end by 2026’
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli on Sunday said that he expected all work regarding the terror-free Türkiye process would be completed by the end of the year.
According to a statement by Gülseven Media Group, with the representatives of which Bahçeli met, Bahçeli called on all political parties to support the works of the committee.
Saying that the PKK is acting in accordance with the organization’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan’s call to dissolve opens the door for positive developments, Bahçeli added that the MHP is sincerely continuing their efforts to embody a climate of peace.
He said that the Kurdish population in Türkiye’s eastern and southeastern regions also supported the process and that this would ensure success.
Bahçeli emphasized that it is time for citizens everywhere to live in peace without the worry of terrorism.
The terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by Bahçeli had its first tangible progress in February when Öcalan accepted Bahçeli’s call and urged the group to lay down its weapons. In May, the PKK announced it would dissolve itself. Last month, some 30 PKK members, including a senior leader, burned their weapons in a ceremony in northern Iraq. Although symbolic, the gesture marked the first time that the group had laid down arms in its campaign of violence for more than four decades.
