Turkey passes conditional amnesty bill
Photo: Metin Yoksu

Turkey passes conditional amnesty bill for thousands linked to PKK, pending disarmament

The Turkish parliament has pushed through a bill on conditional amnesty for thousands of Kurds in the terrorist PKK.

The bill was passed on Monday by a large majority. The law will only come into effect once Turkey confirms that PKK members have laid down all their weapons.

The measure is a step in the peace process to end the armed conflict against Turkey that has claimed thousands of lives.

The proposal would suspend certain prison sentences and halt ongoing investigations and trials, depending on the seriousness of the crimes. If no terror-related crime is suspected, the cases would be dropped.

At the same time, the group demands that leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been in prison since 1999, be released.

In a statement to the PKK-linked news agency ANF, the members said they want to secure their political and democratic rights in Turkey before they can agree to hand over their weapons.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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