DEM Party MPs make 1st İmralı visit after anti-terror bill passes

ISTANBUL

A delegation from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) visited imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan on Sept. 13 on İmralı island, marking the first such meeting since parliament approved a landmark legislative framework governing the disarmament and dissolution of the terrorist organization.

DEM Party lawmakers Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, accompanied by lawyer Faik Özgür Erol, traveled to the high-security prison island off Istanbul for the meeting. The delegation last met with Öcalan on Aug. 2.

The Sept. 13 meeting was the first between the delegation and Öcalan since the Turkish parliament passed the legislation, which is seen as a key step in the implementation of the government’s “terror-free Türkiye” initiative.

The parliament on Aug. 10 approved the 12-article framework law aimed at facilitating the disarmament and dissolution of the PKK, with more than two-thirds of lawmakers voting in favor. A total of 468 lawmakers backed the law, while 88 voted against it, following nearly 10 hours of debate.

All political parties except the İYİ (Good) Party supported the bill, although there were a small number of defections.

The legislation lays out judicial and administrative procedures concerning the PKK’s disarmament and dissolution.

The measures can be applied only after security agencies verify that the PKK/KCK and affiliated formations no longer maintain an operational presence and have surrendered all weapons and ammunition.

The National Security Council must endorse that finding in a decision published in the Official Gazette.

Last week, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said that the PKK would begin disarming and handing over its weapons to Iraq’s central government in October as part of the implementation of the “terror-free Türkiye” process.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zeidi said PKK-affiliated elements in the Sinjar region would begin handing over their weapons to the state, adding that Mount Sinjar would come under the full control of the federal government.