Turkey passes law paving way for PKK militants to return under peace process
New legislation creates a framework for the PKK’s disbandment and the reintegration of militants, drawing hope from families and criticism from veterans.
Diyarbakir, Turkey. Turkish lawmakers have passed legislation establishing a framework for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s disbandment, enabling militants to return from northern Iraq under a peace process aimed at ending a decades-long insurgency.
The move has raised hopes among families of PKK recruits, while military veterans and relatives of security personnel killed in the conflict have expressed anger over the prospect of former militants returning to society.
Families await reunions
Ayten Elhaman said she watched television throughout the parliamentary debate, hoping the legislation would allow her to be reunited with her son Bayram, who left his bakery job nine years ago to join the outlawed PKK.
Speaking at a vigil that has continued for seven years in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, where mothers of PKK recruits wait for news, Elhaman appealed to her son to return.
“My son, if you can hear me, come home. There is peace now. What is this war for anymore? Let no more children die,” she said.
“That hope became the joy of all of Turkey. It became the joy of all mothers. In the end, it was mothers who suffered.”
Framework for reintegration
The legislation, passed late on Monday, paves the way for militants to return from hideouts in northern Iraq and be reintegrated into society. It also provides for the suspension of some prison sentences.
The PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, began its armed campaign against the Turkish state in 1984.
The conflict has killed 40,000 people, fuelled social division and, according to President Tayyip Erdogan, cost more than $2 trillion. If successful, the peace process could become a legacy achievement of Erdogan’s 23 years in power.
Last year, jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called on the group to disband. The PKK agreed three months later.
Veterans voice opposition
Some military veterans and families of security personnel killed fighting the PKK criticised the prospect of reintegrating people long viewed as terrorists.
Ibrahim Colakoglu, a veteran who displayed scars from a leg wound suffered during clashes with the group, said the proposed return of former militants made him question the sacrifices of Turkish soldiers who fought the PKK in the mountainous southeast.
“If they were going to pass that law, why did I go to the mountains? Why did they send us there?” he told Reuters during a protest in Ankara seeking improved rights for military veterans.
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