Devlet Bahçeli, long-time leader of the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP).and current coalition partner to President Reecep.Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), discussed.in a recent parliamentary group meeting the possibility of releasing.Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan. Öcalan has been.imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since his capture in 1999.

In his speech today (October 22) in the Turkish Parliament Bahçeli said:
“If this terrorist leader’s isolation is ever lifted, he should speak with the.DEM Party in the Turkish Parliament. He should proclaim that the terrorism is finished and that his organization is dissolved. If he shows determination on these.matters then perhaps the ‘right to hope’ will be available to him.”
The statement was unique given that Bahçeli is known as a hardliner on the.Kurdish issue, having previously referred to Öcalan as the.‘Murderer of Imralı’ and calling for his execution. Öcalan’s sentence was commuted from death.to life in prison in 2002, and capital punishment.has been illegal in Turkey since 2004.
In recent weeks, however, Devlet Bahçeli has exhibited a markedly softer stance on the.Kurdish issue, including shaking hands with members of the pro-Kurdish DEM.Party at the opening of the new parliamentary session in early October. Bahçeli had previously accused DEM Party officials of.participating in terrorism and called for the party’s closure.
‘Right to hope’ for AbdullaÖcalan
Since the abolition of the death penalty in Turkey in the early 2000s, ‘aggravated life imprisonment’ has become the country’s most serious legal punishment. This penalty offers prisoners no possibility of parole or release. MHP
The ‘right to hope‘ is a legal concept stemming from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) offering convicts serving aggravated life sentences the possibility that their cases may be revisited and that they may be offered the chance for a ‘rehabilitation period’ after which the possibility for the convict’s return to society is considered. The concept aims to provide prisoners serving aggravated life sentences to maintain hope of a future release. MHP
In 2014, the ECHR ruled that Öcalan’s aggravated life imprisonment was inconsistent with the ‘right to hope’ principle and requested that Turkey modify his sentence. The ruling was made by arguing that depriving prisoners of hope for the future constitutes a human rights violation.
Similar decisions were also made in the cases of other prisoners including Hayati Kaytan, Amin Gurban, and Civan Boltan.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
Medyascope'un günlük e-bülteni
Andaç'a abone olun
Editörlerimizin derlediği öngörüler, analizler, Türkiye’yi ve dünyayı şekillendiren haberler, Medyascope’un e-bülteni Andaç‘la her gün mail kutunuzda.