Political actors evaluate draft bill for reconciliation process
by Daily Sabah
ISTANBULJun 28, 2014 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah
Jun 28, 2014 12:00 am
Politicians have a positive stance towards the draft bill, including the rehabilitation of PKK militants to facilitate reconciliation process
The Turkish government sent a bill to Parliament on Thursday to ensure a legal framework for the reconciliation process that started between Ankara and the Kurds in 2013 and to end the decades-long conflict in the southeast between Turkish forces and the PKK, which took up arm against Turkey in 1983 in order to carve out a separate state in the southeastern region. The government announced that due to the reform package it would not end the legislative year on June 30 this year.
Thus, Parliament will work quickly to pass the reform package to show its commitment to the process and bring hope to the families of children who were kidnapped by the PKK. The bill states that the reconciliation process is about putting weapons aside and choosing words, thoughts and politics. The draft bill stipulates that necessary steps in the fields of politics, socioeconomy, psychology, culture and security will be taken to end terrorist activities and uphold social unity. Through the bill, the government will appoint certain institutions or individuals to have a dialogue with Kurdish circles both in the country and abroad. The legislationalso makes it the government's responsibility to rehabilitate militants who lay down their weapons. The National Security Council (MGK) touched upon resolving the long-standing Kurdish issue and securing the return of children abducted in April by the PKK during Thursday's meeting. In the declaration released after the meeting, it stated that the MGK discussed the situation of abducted children and appreciated the efforts of families whose children were abducted.
Commenting on the draft bill, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is imprisoned on İmrali Island, said that the draft bill is a historic development in Turkey's history. Öcalan stated that the legislation marks the first time that the Turkish state has negotiated to overcome its problems with the social parts it has been clashing with for years. He added that when this bill is passed, Turkish democracy will be improved and permanent peace will be ensured.
Speaking to Sterk TV, pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş stated that not all expectations of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) were met by the draft bill, but it is a gain for Kurdish people. He added that the draft bill is a sign that the government cannot continue the reconciliation process without a legal framework and the negotiations are expected to start.
Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay said after the submission of the bill, "This regulation is a general one, and it will present a general perspective for coming regulations. A roadmap and action plan that would include more concrete steps regarding the process will be based on this framework law. Thanks to this framework, state institutions will be able to determine in which fields and how they would contribute to the solution process."
Atalay said the bill would authorize the Cabinet, rather than individual state institutions, to take measures related to the talks, enabling it to speed up the process. Parliament, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's AK Party has a large majority, is expected to pass the law before its recess on July 25.
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu stated that the CHP conditionally supports the draft bill. Kılıçdaroğlu said that the fourth article of the draft bill that ensures legal protection to the actors in the reconciliation process should be removed. "Our [CHP] priority is a peaceful atmosphere and solving the Kurdish issue permanently.
There is a process that has continued for 18 months, and we have asked for a legal process since the beginning." Kılıçdaroğlu also stated that the government's authority to solve the Kurdish issue should not be limitless and uncontrolled.
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