Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkish Parliament OKs Amnesty Bill
by By The Associated Press - December 8, 2000
Posted: Monday, December 11, 2000 01:42 am CST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- With Turkey's prisons overcrowded and tense, lawmakers approved a contentious amnesty bill Friday that could release nearly half the nation's 72,000 inmates.

Families of crime victims have strongly opposed the bill. However, the government is under pressure to relieve pressure in packed prisons where rioting and hostage-takings are common.

The bill reduces sentences by 10 years, meaning about 35,000 prisoners would be set free. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer must first approve the bill -- something that is by no means certain.

``They are releasing murderers, thieves, pickpockets and robbers in numbers equivalent to the population of a city,'' wrote Bekir Coskun, a columnist for Hurriyet newspaper.

Former President Suleyman Demirel vetoed a similar bill approved by parliament last year after strong public pressure not to release murderers and corrupt public officials.

The government says the bill, which applies to all crimes committed before April 23, 1999, would allow conditional paroles -- not pardons -- and that re-offenders would be sent back to prison.

The amnesty bill also commutes death sentences, except those of people convicted of treason, such as Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Turkey has not carried out an execution since 1984.

Among those excluded from the amnesty bill are rapists, corrupt state officials, bank embezzlers, money launderers, drug traffickers and those accused of crimes against the state, such as Kurdish guerrillas and leftist and Islamic militants. Activists and sympathizers are eligible, however, as are murderers.

About 150 convicts in a prison in Sivas, central Turkey, began packing up their belongings even before parliament began debating the bill Friday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Hundreds of Kurdish activists or villagers sentenced for aiding Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast will benefit from the law, as will scores of Islamic activists.

Former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, leader of Turkey's Islamic movement, is also spared from his prison sentence.

Erbakan was due to begin serving a one-year prison sentence in January for challenging the secular government in a speech. He was convicted of violating legislation that outlaws speeches inciting racial or religious hatred.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist began serving a two-month prison sentence Friday for publishing a booklet critical of the military.

Sanar Yurdatapan was convicted in February over the booklet, which included a statement by a conscientious objector and which prosecutors said discouraged people from serving in the military.

The booklet, titled ``Freedom for Thought, Vol. 38,'' is part of a series by intellectuals protesting Turkey's anti-terrorism and anti-sedition laws.

Yurdatapan, a composer, faces another trial on charges of aiding Kurdish rebels and inciting hatred for publishing a collection of previously banned articles. If convicted, he and 20 others face up to 15 years in prison.

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