Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç has ruled out any possibility of the release of outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan from prison based on European court precedents despite a recent announcement from the militant group that it was laying down its arms and disbanding, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The precedent in question is the “right to hope” and is based on some rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, referring to the expectation that prisoners, even those serving life sentences, have a chance of eventual release or review of their sentence based on good behavior and other factors after a certain period of time.
“There is no such situation nor any discussion on the matter,” Tunç told reporters on Wednesday ahead of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group meeting in parliament, when asked about the potential application of the “right to hope” for Öcalan.
Öcalan, who founded the PKK in the late 1970s, has been serving an aggravated life sentence in a prison on İmralı Island since 1999.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that cost more than 40,000 lives. It announced its dissolution in a historic move on May 12 following peace talks conducted with Öcalan, who called on the group in February to end the armed conflict.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) responded swiftly to Tunç’s remarks. Its spokesperson, Ayşegül Doğan, criticized the minister’s tone on social media, accusing him of ruining the positive environment in the country following the PKK’s announcement of its decision to disband.
“Mr. Minister, leaving aside the debate on the right to hope, your language is far from the constructive discourse needed in this process and unfortunately has a toxic effect. What society expects is for you to use your representative power to establish justice. We need law and democratic consensus, not polemics.”
It was far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli who had initiated the peace process with the PKK in a surprise move last October and raised the possibility of Öcalan’s release from prison.
Bahçeli said Öcalan could benefit from the right to hope if he renounced terrorism and called on the PKK lay down its arms.
His outreach was backed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.