Terrorist organization PKK issues statement on 'framework law': 'It must go beyond laying down arms'

As the government enters a critical juncture in the process it calls a "Terror-Free Turkey," a written statement regarding the planned "Framework Law" has come from the terrorist organization PKK. While the DEM Party Imralı Delegation is expected to meet with the terrorist organization PKK's ringleader Öcalan on Thursday, July 23, the statement issued by the organization claimed that a legal regulation that excludes his physical freedom and the organization's leaders would mean sabotaging the process.

"IT WOULD MEAN SABOTAGING THE PROCESS"

The statement, which touched upon the draft laws that came to the agenda following the meetings held between the DEM Party and the AKP, reacted to the claims of circles close to the government:

Statements by some figures close to the AKP suggesting that the planned framework law would not include a clause regarding the terrorist organization PKK's ringleader Abdullah Öcalan and that the so-called leadership cadres of the terrorist organization PKK would be kept outside the scope of the law were criticized.

The statement argued that a law that does not include the physical freedom of the terrorist organization PKK's ringleader Öcalan would not solve any problems, stating, "This situation clearly means sabotaging the process. The leader's attainment of free conditions must be ensured by a law."

"KEEPING THE LEADERSHIP CADRE OUTSIDE WILL NOT BRING A SOLUTION"

The statement, which noted that a holistic approach is needed to move the 50-year-long conflict process onto a legal and political ground, included the following views:

"Keeping the PKK leadership cadre away from a political environment where democratic politics can be practiced freely does not produce a solution. The enactment of a law that will ensure the participation of all elements of the organization, from its leader to its fighters, in a democratic politics where freedom of organization and thought is complete, is a necessity of the nature of the problem that is sought to be solved."

The statement claimed that if the law remains incomplete, it could lead to undesirable consequences, and argued that a consensus reached by discussing with the terrorist organization PKK's ringleader Öcalan should eliminate the legal loopholes in the law.

"THE PROBLEM CANNOT BE REDUCED TO JUST LAYING DOWN ARMS"

In the final part of the statement made by the terrorist organization PKK, it was argued that the ongoing process should not be handled only with its military dimension:

It was stated that the solution to the Kurdish issue is essentially a matter of democratization, and it was claimed that an approach that reduces the problem only to the laying down of arms cannot be expected to lead the process to success.

It was asserted that any policy that does not prioritize democratization would mean insisting on conflict and war, and it was conveyed that there is an insistence on peace and a democratic society solution in order to end the decades-long period of conflict.