Ankara court releases non-arrest assurance for senior PKK leaders

A heavy penal court in Turkish capital Ankara has released non-arrest assurances for dozens of senior figures involved with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The court order applies to key PKK leaders currently living abroad, including Zübeyir Aydar and Remzi Kartal, on the condition of their return to Turkey within three months.

The Ankara 8th Heavy Penal Court has been trying in absentia 31 defendants involved in forming the “Kurdish Parliament in Exile” and the “Kurdistan National Congress,” on charges of “establishing and directing an armed organization.” The “non-arrest assurance” was delivered for 26 defendants who have so far not appeared before the court and are abroad, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported on June 14.

In addition to Aydar and Kartal, Şemsettin Aktaş, Elif Alataş, Ali Haydar Aslıyüce, Felemez Başboğa, Ekrem Berkpınar, Mehmet Sıraç Bilgin, Nejdet Buldan, Ali Haydar Celasun, Abdurrahman Çadırcı, Aziz Doğan, Yaşar Ertaş, Haydar Işık, Mahmut Kılınç, Ökkeş Kolusarı, Ali Matur, Şengül Özbek, İsmail Özden, Celal Özkan, İlknur Şen, Mehmet Taşkala, Nizamettin Toğuç, Ahmet Turhallı, Mesut Uysal and Mehmet Ali Yiğit are listed as those defendants.

The most notable individuals in this group are Aydar and Kartal because they are among the most influential people in the PKK. Both were elected to Parliament in 1991 when the pro-Kurdish now-defunct People’s Labor Party (HEP) entered the elections on the now-defunct Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP) ticket. When the HEP faced closure, they joined the Democracy Party (DEP), also later...