Kurtulmuş says terror-free Türkiye process nearing completion

ANKARA

Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş has said a planned legal arrangement under the “terror-free Türkiye” process would be temporary and limited in scope, stressing that it would not amount to an amnesty.

Speaking on CNN Türk, Kurtulmuş said the possible law would not be a permanent arrangement covering everyone.

“The form agreed in the commission is this: It will not be a law that covers everyone forever and remains in force indefinitely,” he said.

“The law to be enacted will never be in the nature of an amnesty. It should not create such a perception. It should rather be a sentence-enforcement arrangement,” he added.

Kurtulmuş said he believed most of the process had been completed and that terrorism would soon be removed from Türkiye’s agenda.

“In my view, most of the work has been done. In the near future, terrorism will be completely removed from Türkiye’s agenda,” he said.

He also said the process had advanced without concessions and that all parties in parliament had the opportunity to express their views.

Turning to NATO, Kurtulmuş said Türkiye will host the NATO Parliamentary Summit at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul on June 29, ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara on July 7-8.

He said the Istanbul meeting would bring together parliamentary speakers from NATO member states and provide a platform for discussion on the alliance’s future from a parliamentary perspective.

Kurtulmuş described the Ankara summit as a potential “historic turning point” for NATO, citing debates over European security, defense spending and the future balance of responsibilities within the alliance.

He said the war in Ukraine, Russia’s actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and debates over Europe’s defense capacity had made NATO’s future direction more important.

“Security can no longer be ensured only with soldiers, weapons and bombs,” Kurtulmuş said, adding that NATO should also focus on how it can contribute to peace.

Kurtulmuş said he expected productive meetings in Istanbul and Ankara at a time when Euro-Atlantic security debates were intensifying.