Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Ömer Çelik said a general amnesty is not on the immediate agenda of the ruling party after the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) drafted a proposal to introduce amnesty for convicts in Turkey’s prisons subject to several exceptions, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“We maintain the position we had previously announced. We do not have amnesty on our agenda,” Çelik said following the ruling party’s top executive board meeting on Wednesday.
His comment came as the MHP has completed the preparation of a draft bill granting amnesty to most of the prison population.
The bill was part of the party’s election manifesto, which sparked a debate among the opposition.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is also the AKP leader, repeatedly said his party was not considering an amnesty during the recent election campaign.
The nationalist party’s eight-article amnesty bill excludes prisoners convicted of membership in a terrorist organization.
It also excludes granting amnesty to inmates convicted of child abuse and the murder of a woman in domestic abuse cases.
MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli demanded amnesty for ultranationalist mafia bosses Alaattin Çakıcı and Kürtşat Yılmaz, who were considered by Bahçeli as “grey wolves,” a term used for the party’s grass roots.