MHP leader claims gov’t is preparing to grant ‘political amnesty’ to PKK militants

ANKARA

MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli speaks at a parliamentary group meeting of his party. AA Photo

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader has interpreted recent developments in the peace process as a signal indicating the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) intention to grant a “political amnesty” to members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“All targets of the PKK and its extensions are being represented by the AKP. If it ends up like this [an amnesty], then there will have been no need to have dispatched the military [to the southeast] when the first armed activity began in 1984,” MHP head Devlet Bahçeli said on Nov. 18, speaking at a MHP parliamentary group meeting.

The PKK militants took up arms in 1984 to fight for Kurdish independence but later revised that goal to autonomy in southeastern Turkey.

“The government’s plan is obvious. A political amnesty will be released for the terrorists. Studies concerning autonomy will be completed,” Bahçeli added.

From the very beginning, the MHP leader has been vocal in his objection to the process involving jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, which aims to bring an end to the conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people since the PKK took up arms.

“Today’s PKK is identical with the rebels in Dersim in 1937-1938. The leading actor of the Dersim treason, terrorist Rıza [Seyit Rıza], is a copy of today’s chief-terrorist Öcalan. Terrorist Rıza wanted to separate Turkey by acting as a pawn for imperialism, but he received the penalty he deserved without being able to achieve his goal,” Bahçeli said.

In Dersim, now known as Tunceli, over 13,000 people were killed during a military operation to quash an apparent Kurdish tribal rebellion during the single-party rule. Seyit Rıza, the leader of the movement in Dersim, was executed in 1937.