Turkey: Opposition MHP sends amnesty bill to parliament

ANKARA

Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Monday submitted a draft amnesty law to the Turkish parliament.

The law aims to provide a one-off conditional discount of 5 years for crimes that have been committed before May 19, 2018.

Speaking to reporters in the parliament, MHP's deputy chairman Feti Yildiz said a total of 162,000 detainees and convicts will benefit from the regulation.

"Our proposal is neither a general amnesty, nor a special amnesty," Yildiz said.

Yildiz noted that the draft law would not be only evaluated by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party but also by all other parties in the parliament.

"All parties in the parliament will evaluate our draft law. They will vote it in the general assembly. We do not aim to enact it just with the agreement of AK Party and MHP," he said.

The draft law excludes the crimes against the state, terrorism, sexual abuse, and murder.

It does not include crimes against forestry laws and the crimes against humanity, and crimes against the law protecting the legacy of Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

The draft law excludes the crimes that have been committed after May 19, 2018.