, requesting a retrial, amid an ongoing peace process with the militant group, the Sözcü daily reported.){kind=link}
The Turkish Ministry of Justice has rejected an appeal filed by Şemdin Sakık, a former senior executive of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), requesting a retrial, amid an ongoing peace process with the militant group, the Sözcü daily reported.
Sakık, once considered the PKK’s second-in-command, has been imprisoned since 1998 following his capture in northern Iraq and subsequent trial in Turkey. He filed a request that his conviction, a life sentence, be overturned under a legal mechanism that allows for the review of earlier verdicts under updated legal standards.
Sakık, 56, filed the application following a landmark announcement by the PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies, on May 12 that it was laying down its arms and disbanding as a result of ongoing peace talks with the group’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan.
The PKK’s decision followed an appeal from Öcalan, urging the militants to disarm, in February.
In his appeal Sakık argued that his right to a fair trial was violated due to his case being heard by Turkey’s now-defunct State Security Courts. These courts, abolished during Turkey’s European Union harmonization process, were frequently criticized for lacking judicial independence.
According to Sözcü, Sakık wanted to benefit from the “right to hope,” which 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.
“The right to hope” came to Turkey’s agenda for Öcalan when far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli made a surprise call to him last October and hinted at his release from prison if he called on his militant group to renounce violence.
The PKK, founded by Öcalan in 1978, began its armed campaign against the Turkish state in 1984, first asking for Kurdish independence before moving toward autonomy and cultural rights.
The conflict has cost over 40,000 lives and caused widespread displacement and trauma, especially in Turkey’s southeast.
The Justice Ministry, however, found no procedural errors that would warrant a retrial or annulment of the original verdict. Sakık remains convicted of participating in over 250 violent incidents, including a 1993 ambush on the Elazığ-Bingöl highway in eastern Turkey that resulted in the death of 33 unarmed soldiers.
PKK executive calls for legal steps
Neither Öcalan nor the PKK set any preconditions publicly for the group’s disbandment, but there are widespread expectations for judicial reform that will expand the cultural and political rights of the country’s Kurds and help PKK members integrate into society after laying down their arms.
Duran Kalkan, a senior PKK executive, voiced these expectations to the pro-Kurdish ANF news agency, saying the Turkish government has failed to take expected steps following the group’s announcement to disband.
“They want this without taking any steps, without making any changes,” Kalkan said.
“Implementation is in the hands of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] government, and we see no progress. At present there isn’t even a minor legal regulation from the government to ensure the security of this process. But this process cannot advance with unilateral moves or mere declarations of goodwill. There must be reciprocal steps,” he told ANF.
Kalkan also argued that the release of Öcalan, who has been serving a life sentence in a prison on İmralı Island since 1999, is essential for the process of laying down of arms to move forward.
Observers caution that while the PKK’s disbanding is symbolically important, the Turkish government’s reluctance to revisit past convictions, expand Kurdish rights or include a broader range of Kurdish voices could limit the prospects for a lasting peace.