ANKARA: After the decision by the Kurdish group PKK to disband, Türkiye was eyeing on Wednesday a raft of legal and technical measures to ensure its full implementation and finally end a four-decade insurgency. Monday's announcement sought to draw a line under a bloody chapter that began in 1984 when the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) took up arms, triggering a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives. "What matters most is the implementation," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, pledging to "meticulously monitor whether the promises are kept".
The pro-Kurdish DEM party, a key player that facilitated contact between jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan and the political establishment, urged Ankara to take "confidence-building steps" such as freeing political prisoners. So far, Turkish officials have said little but the government is working on a proposal that could ease prison sentences in general. The text, which should be submitted to parliament by June at the latest, provides for the conditional release of all those in pre-trial detention for offences committed before July 31, 2023. — AFP
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