Baykal, who previously said the surrender of the militants had revealed the role of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan in the ongoing efforts to settle the Kurdish question, continued to criticize the peace move in a press conference yesterday.
“Judges and prosecutors traveled there just to take their testimony. The honor of our judges and prosecutors has been tarnished. The law was blatantly ignored for politics. This is an apparent violation of the law,” he said.
Arguing that those who returned to the country through the Habur border crossing did not come because of any regret at being a member of the terrorist organization, Baykal said: “They are saying they came to represent the terrorist organization and no legal action is being taken against them. Based on this picture, we can say that the PKK is no longer considered a criminal organization in Turkey.”
Baykal also claimed that the surrendered terrorists have been turned into heroes. “But this situation was not a surprising one. It was a planned one,” he said.
Thirty-four PKK members surrendered to Turkish security forces on Monday in a show of support for the government's plans to settle the Kurdish question through democratic means.
