 were released from Turkish prisons after a landmark ruling by the country’s top court came into effect, the Sözcü daily reported on Monday.){kind=link}
More than 200 people convicted of terrorism-related offenses linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were released from Turkish prisons after a landmark ruling by the country’s top court came into effect, the Sözcü daily reported on Monday.
The releases, which occurred over a 72-hour period, were possible thanks to decisions made by the high criminal courts in the predominantly Kurdish province of Diyarbakır. These courts, according to Sözcü, based their rulings on a judgment issued by the Constitutional Court earlier this year.
In its January decision, the Constitutional Court struck down a controversial provision of Turkey’s counterterrorism law, Article 220/6 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which required people to be punished as members of a terrorist organization even if they were not formally affiliated with it, provided they were found to have committed crimes “on behalf of” such groups.
The decision, published in the Official Gazette in January, took effect six months later, triggering the mass releases.
Under that article, thousands of people, many involved in unauthorized protests or accused of resisting police, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms as if they were members of armed groups, primarily the PKK. These convictions were widely upheld by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals during the 2006–2016 period, when special terrorism courts were active.
Diyarbakır courts worked intensively over the weekend to process the top court’s decision, halting the enforcement of sentences and ordering immediate releases. In most cases, prison terms were commuted without the need for filing appeals, while arrest warrants for those previously sentenced in absentia were canceled, according to Sözcü.
However, people who have already completed their sentences must submit formal requests to have their convictions overturned. Once the courts issue acquittals, they will become eligible to seek damages from the government for wrongful imprisonment, both through Turkey’s Justice Ministry and, potentially, the European Court of Human Rights.
Legal experts say the ruling could affect thousands of former prisoners, many of whom served six to 10 years behind bars. The resulting claims for damages are expected to put a significant financial burden on the state treasury.
A government commission established at the Ministry of Justice will review these applications for damages, and individuals with expunged records will also be able to clear their criminal records from official judicial databases.
The ruling marks one of the most significant reversals of Turkey’s counterterrorism policies in recent years and comes amid mounting pressure from domestic and international legal watchdogs for judicial reform.
Critics of the now-defunct clause argued that it led to serious human rights violations, criminalizing political dissent and peaceful protest. Many convicted people filed individual applications at the Constitutional Court, arguing they had neither code names nor hierarchical roles in the PKK and had been punished solely for participating in demonstrations.
The release of the PKK convicts come at a time of ongoing peace talks with the PKK and its decision to end its decades-long armed conflict with Turkey.
Sözcü, known for its nationalist editorial stance, used a provocative headline for the story, saying, “Over 200 PKK members quickly released on the pretext of the top court ruling.”
On July 11 a group of 30 PKK fighters held a high-profile ceremony in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, where they publicly destroyed their weapons in what was billed as the first step toward ending the group’s four-decade armed conflict against the Turkish state.
The ceremony followed months of indirect negotiations between jailed PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan and Ankara that began in October with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s blessing and were facilitated by Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).
The PKK took up arms in 1984, beginning a series of bloody attacks on Turkish soil which sparked a conflict that cost more than 40,000 lives. It is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
But more than four decades on, the PKK in May announced its dissolution, saying it would pursue a democratic struggle to defend the rights of the Kurdish minority in line with a historic call by Öcalan in February, who has been serving a life sentence in Turkey since 1999.
Sözcü accused of biased reporting
Sözcü has attracted criticism for its coverage of the report, with some human rights advocates and lawyers saying that those released were not necessarily PKK militants but had been convicted under a now-annulled legal clause that blurred the distinction between protest activity and armed membership.
The Van Bar Association issued a statement on Monday condemning Sözcü’s coverage as “biased and unlawful,” saying it misrepresented a legitimate judicial decision and contributed to the public stigmatization of wrongfully imprisoned people.
“This ruling was a legal development grounded in constitutional principles,” the association said. “It is unacceptable to distort its context and weaponize media language against those affected.”