ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) does not seek an amnesty from Ankara but demands constitutional changes toward political democratization, a senior PKK commander said on Thursday. His statement comes amid progress in efforts to form a parliamentary commission to give the ongoing peace talks between the Kurdish group and Turkish authorities a legal forum.
“We don't want amnesty. We want laws to change… There are anti-democratic laws in Turkey,” Cemil Bayik, co-chair of the executive council of PKK umbrella group the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) said during an interview with the PKK-affiliated Yeni Yasam news outlet. “These laws need to change, not just for the Kurds, but for all democratic forces, for all left-wing forces. Democratic laws need to evolve. Freedom laws need to evolve. The Constitution has failed. They [Turkish politicians] are already saying it.”
The Turkish constitution was formally drafted and adopted following the 1980 military coup. It recognizes all citizens of Turkey as Turks, thereby disregarding minority rights, including the recognition of the Kurds.
“Everyone bound to the Turkish State through the bond of citizenship is a Turk,” article 66 of the Turkish constitution.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long been emphasizing the need to draft a new constitution for the country which some analysts argue that his push to mend fences with the PKK is partially geared to garner Kurdish support for changing the constitution and his re-election. The current constitution allows each politician to serve no more than two terms, preventing Erdogan from running for the third term.
There are ongoing peace talks between Ankara and the PKK. The latter has decided to dissolve itself and lay down arms after decades of a devastating war with the Turkish state. A first group of PKK fighters burned their weapons earlier this month.
Erdogan said on Monday that they are following the PKK disarmament process, adding that the negotiations to form a parliamentary commission to address the peace process, or what Ankara calls terror-free Turkey, have “reached the final stage. You will soon see progress at the parliamentary level.”
The peace process will be guided by the parliamentary commission. Representatives of the parliamentary bloc of Turkey’s political parties met with the parliament speaker on Friday and the commission is set to be formed within days. The commission has broad political support, except from the ultranationalist Good Party (IYI).
Sezai Temelli, a DEM Party lawmaker, told Rudaw on Tuesday that the parliamentary commission will consist of 35 members and may hold its first meeting in the coming days.
He added that the commission’s main task will be to ensure “legal and political guarantees for the disarmament process.”
Some PKK fighters based in Duhok province told Rudaw earlier this month that they fear reprisals if they return to Turkey, with many opting to remain in the mountains instead.
