ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s newly formed parliamentary commission, tasked with establishing a legal framework for the peace process between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), held its first meeting on Tuesday. The legislature’s speaker stressed transparency in the work of the commission.
“Every briefing will be conducted transparently and inclusively. The work carried out under this roof will proceed in front of the public's eyes, with the guarantee of the nation's will,” Numan Kurtulmus said in the beginning of the meeting.
He added that the meeting “is not only the beginning of our commission's work but also the beginning of the flourishing of our dear nation's hopes for the future."
The commission was established as part of peace negotiations between the Turkish government and the PKK. It includes members from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), the AKP’s governing ally the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) whose leader Devlet Bahceli last year launched the peace process by calling on jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan to announce his group’s dissolution, the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) that has been mediating the peace talks, and several other smaller parties, including Kurdish ones.
As part of the peace process, the PKK held a disarmament ceremony in Sulaimani province on July 11, when 30 members and commanders burned their weapons. The group decided to lay down arms after Ocalan urged them to pursue a political solution to obtain rights for Kurds in Turkey instead of armed conflict.
Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a DEM Party lawmaker, told Rudaw on Monday that the commission’s “biggest task right now is determining the legal status of PKK fighters after disarmament.
“There will be discussions around a new law,” he added, noting that “some amendments and reversals of existing laws,” might take place.
Kurtulmus said they may not write a new constitution “but we will construct sentences of brotherhood. Our parliament will not only remind us of our thousand-year brotherhood but will also define it on the political level.”
He reiterated that the PKK disarmament is not the result of a bargain but rather “the result of our nation's determination for peace and unity, and it is a reflection of this."
Zekeriya Yapicioglu, the leader of the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda Par), told Rudaw on Monday that the commission is not a decision-making body. “It only makes proposals. We will present our proposals at the meeting."
He also emphasized the need for dialogue between political parties.
"There needs to be give and take between all parties, but some parties close their doors to negotiations. So far, no negotiations have taken place between us and the DEM Party,” he said.
