Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Chairman Mustafa Kalaycı has said one of the first bills to be proposed in parliament after the summer break would be a general amnesty, the Diken news website reported on Friday.
Kalaycı said it was on the party agenda during its campaign in advance of parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24, adding that the MHP plays a key role in passing legislation.
Parliament closed for its summer break on July 26 and will resume sessions on Oct. 1.
The MHP currently has 50 parliamentary seats, while the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has 290. With 600 members in the Turkish parliament a motion needs more than 300 votes to pass.
The two parties formed an alliance for the elections as the MHP supported President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s presidential bid.
“I believe we’ll discuss and come to agreement with the AKP on the general amnesty proposal. We have made our preparations,” Kalaycı said during a visit to the MHP’s Konya branch for the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Adha.
“This is a social need. We can’t back away from that point. I think the government is aware of the situation,” he added.
During the election campaign MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli repeatedly proposed a general amnesty for the prison population, with the exception of those who were charged with or convicted of membership in the Gülen movement or the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Bahçeli included notorious mafia bosses Alaattin Çakıcı and Kürşat Yılmaz in his amnesty list.
President Erdoğan rejected his ally’s proposal several times before the election.