ANKARA - Italian academic Federico Venturini said that the draft law was an important step in bringing the process onto a legal footing. Emphasizing that this development was the result of Abdullah Öcalan’s sustained efforts to develop a political route beyond war, Venturini drew attention to the “right to hope.”

 

The “framework law” draft prepared as part of the Peace and Democratic Society Process was submitted to the Parliament Speaker’s Office with the signatures of around 360 MPs. While some of its provisions have sparked debate over the scope and implementation of the process, the draft is expected to be discussed by the Justice Commission today and then by the General Assembly, with its enactment expected  on Monday.

 

 

Italian academic Federico Venturini shared his assessment of the draft law.

 

RIGHT TO HOPE AS A CONCRETE INDICATOR OF POLITICAL WILL

 

Venturini said that the draft law was an important step in bringing the process onto a legal footing, but argued that excluding Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan from its scope and failing to include the “right to hope” were incompatible with the goal of peace. Emphasizing that the process had reached its current stage as a result of Abdullah Öcalan’s years-long political efforts and his call, Venturini stated that lasting peace could only be achieved not through disarmament alone, but through legal reforms centered on democratization, political dialogue and mechanisms of mutual guarantees. Venturini said: “Recognizing the right to hope would be a concrete indication that the process is moving from unilateral expectation towards mutual political responsibility” and also pointed to the responsibilities facing the international community.

 

‘THE PROCESS REMAINS FRAGILE AND INCOMPLETE’

 

Describing the submission of the “legal framework” to Parliament as an important and necessary development, Venturini said that the step moved the process beyond political declarations and unilateral initiatives, placing it within a public and institutional arena. Noting that the current stage of the process remains fragile and incomplete, Venturini said: “The reported framework gives considerable authority to security institutions to determine whether the organization has ended its effective existence and disarmed. This risks defining the process primarily through security and demobilization, rather than through political resolution and democratization. Disarmament may be an essential component, but it cannot be the sole measure of peace.”

 

‘ABDULLAH ÖCALAN’S SUSTAINED EFFORTS…’

 

Emphasizing that the political ground created by Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan for the transition towards democratic politics has been decisive in reaching the current stage, Venturini said: “The process has reached this point because Abdullah Öcalan created the political possibility for a strategic transition from armed conflict towards democratic politics. His call was able to produce a response across the Kurdish freedom movement because he retains a unique historical, political and organizational authority. Any serious assessment of the current stage must therefore recognize that the process is not simply a government initiative. It is also the result of a long transformation within the Kurdish freedom movement, and of Öcalan's sustained effort to develop a political route beyond war.

 

I therefore view the current moment as a decisive threshold. The law can become the beginning of a genuine peace process, but only if Parliament expands it beyond the management of disarmament. It must address political participation, legal equality, the rights of prisoners, local democracy, language rights, representation and safeguards against renewed repression. The central question is whether the state is prepared not only to receive the consequences of Öcalan's call, but also to recognize him and the Kurdish Freedom Movement as legitimate political interlocutors in shaping the next phase.”

 

‘A DEEP ASYMMETRY’

 

Venturini also criticized the provision in the draft that excludes those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment before 2005, as well as offenses carrying aggravated life imprisonment, from the scope of the regulation. Emphasizing that this provision effectively leaves Abdullah Öcalan outside the law, Venturini continued: “A peace law should be based on coherent and transparent principles, not on thresholds designed to exclude the central figure of the process. The provision is especially contradictory because Öcalan's intervention made the present process possible. The state appears willing to use his authority to encourage disarmament and organizational transformation, while drafting the legal framework in a manner that leaves his own status untouched. This creates a deep asymmetry. It asks the Kurdish freedom movement to undertake an irreversible strategic transformation while the state avoids addressing the most politically significant case.The law should therefore be amended. It should replace arbitrary temporal exclusions with individualized and legally reviewable criteria. It should also ensure that long-term prisoners are not placed permanently outside the horizon of peace. A process that excludes Öcalan cannot be considered comprehensive, because it excludes the person who has been indispensable to its emergence and who remains crucial to its implementation.”

 

‘THE RIGHT TO HOPE AS A CONCRETE INDICATOR’

 

Venturini also criticized the absence of any provision regarding the “right to hope” in the draft, describing it as a serious omission. Emphasizing that the “right to hope” is not a personal but a general legal principle, Venturini said that the failure to address this issue was difficult to justify. Venturini continued: “The right to hope should therefore be incorporated into binding legislation, either within the framework law or through a parallel reform adopted within the same political timetable. This must be accompanied by regular access to lawyers, family members and political delegations, together with conditions that allow Öcalan to participate effectively in the process. His participation should not be treated as a reward to be considered only after disarmament. It is one of the practical conditions for the process to advance in a credible and orderly manner. The Kurdish Freedom Movement has been asked to undertake a profound transformation. The state must demonstrate that it is prepared to alter the exceptional legal and penal regime that has structured the conflict. Recognizing the right to hope would be a concrete indication that the process is moving from unilateral expectation towards mutual political responsibility.”

 

‘INTERNATIONAL ACTORS SHOULD RECOGNISE THE POLITICAL REALITY OF THE PROCESS”

 

Stating that the international community should provide more sustained and concrete engagement as the process moves towards a legal framework, Venturini said: “International actors should begin by recognizing the political reality of the process. It began with Abdullah Öcalan’s call and was made possible by the organized response of the Kurdish Freedom Movement.  Reducing the process to the technical dissolution of an armed organization would misrepresent its origins and weaken its prospects. Öcalan is not an incidental figure. He is the central political actor capable of giving legitimacy, direction and continuity to the transformation now under discussion. The international community should also avoid a narrow counter-terrorism framework. It should recognize that the Kurdish question is political, social, cultural and territorial.”

 

‘DIALOGUE AND LEGAL REFORMS MUST ADVANCE TOGETHER’

 

Stating that political dialogue must advance in parallel with legal reforms, Venturini continued: “Political dialogue should define the principles, objectives and reciprocal commitments of the process. Law should then transform these commitments into enforceable rights, procedures and institutional guarantees. A political process without legal reform remains reversible and dependent on those currently in power. Legal reform without a political settlement risks becoming a narrow administrative mechanism that manages demobilization while leaving the causes of the conflict untouched. The framework law should therefore be understood as the beginning of a wider democratization process. Ending armed conflict is essential, but sustainable peace requires changes in the political structures that have produced exclusion, forced assimilation, criminalization and territorial inequality.”

 

‘MUNICIPALITIES SHOULD HAVE ADMINISTRATIVE AND FISCAL AUTONOMY…’

 

Venturini said that a democratic settlement should also address issues such as native-language rights, the end of trustee appointments to municipalities, local democratic autonomy and the protection of fundamental freedoms. He argued that municipalities should have sufficient administrative and fiscal autonomy, while political expression, journalism, association and other forms of civic activity should not be treated as criminal acts. Venturini added that the proposals developed by the Kurdish Freedom Movement should be addressed through political debate rather than being criminalized or excluded in advance.

 

‘A SOLUTION REQUIRES A CLEAR POLITICAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT’

 

Venturini said:  “There is a fundamental contradiction in asking Öcalan to carry the political responsibility for disarmament while excluding him from the legal framework and maintaining conditions that restrict his participation. The state cannot rely on his authority while refusing to recognize the political and legal consequences of that authority. The right to hope, regular access to lawyers and political delegations, freedom of communication and, ultimately, his freedom must be treated as integral elements of the peace process. A durable settlement will therefore require a clear political acknowledgement: Abdullah Öcalan is not external to the process. He is one of its principal architects, the key interlocutor of the Kurdish freedom movement and an indispensable figure in transforming the possibility of peace into a stable democratic reality.”

 

MA / Deniz Karabudak