Erdogan seeks to release terrorists via amnesty bill

Mohamed Abdel Ghaffar

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been seeking from his first day in power to suppress his political opponents. By doing so, he thinks he would maintain his rule. Erdogan has intensified his dictatorial behaviors since the faked coup attempt in July 2016.

The ruling Justice and Development Party has been cracking down on its political opponents on charges of taking part in the attempted coup, on July 15, 2016,  and joining the opposition group, which is  led by Fethullah Gulen in Washington.

According to official statistics, which were revealed by Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu on September 23, 2019, the Interior Ministry has sacked 33,000 people, on accusations of joining the Fethullah Gulen-led group, since the attempted coup.

On March 10, 2019, Soylu said some 511,000 people were arrested and 30,000 were detained on charges of joining the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK.

The amnesty bill excludes government employees, judges, lawyers, journalists, and the military personnel, who were arrested on charges of joining the Fethullah Gulen-led group. The bill also excludes former leader of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas.

Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, an MP from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said that Erdogan will release the around 100,000 killers, thieves and terrorists via the amnesty bill.

Gergerlioglu added that the bill stipulated that the prisoners convicted of sexual violence, drug dealing and murder would be released after spending 65 percent of their imprisonment terms.

Following the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic and that crowds contribute to the viral spread, there were calls to release the political prisoners in Turkey.

The ruling Justice and Development Party has circumvented as usual on the back of growing international pressures to release the political prisoners.

The Justice and Development Party submitted an amnesty bill to release prisoners to reduce prisoners in the country’s overcrowded jailhouses as a measure against the spread of the coronavirus.

The ruling party said in a statement that the bill, which was submitted to the Turkish parliament on April 7, would release around 45,000 prisoners.