Turkey's reconciliation process, which aims to end a bloody campaign by the PKK terrorist organization, apparently led to an increase in the number of the organization's members surrendering to government security forces, official figures indicate.
According to data provided by Interior Ministry, 838 PKK members turned themselves in to authorities over the past two years. The number is considerably high compared to 150 who surrendered in 2012, one year before the process began.
Interior Ministry statistics also show 233 militants surrendered in 2013, 500 in 2014 and 105 in the first three months of 2015. Overall, the total number of those who surrendered since 2012 stands at 988.
The reconciliation process was marked with a series of unprecedented developments that promise a resolution to the violent conflict, which killed tens of thousands of people since the 1980s. On Saturday, Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the terrorist organization, issued a message, urging the PKK to lay down its arms. "I think it is necessary and historic for the PKK to end the 40 year-long armed struggle against the Republic of Turkey and hold a congress to conform with the new era's spirit," Öcalan said in his message. The message came after the government and an opposition party linked to the PKK held talks on the process last month. The terrorist organization announced its withdrawal from Turkish territories in 2013, and several militants hiding out in mountainous areas in southeastern and eastern Turkey had crossed into northern Iraq to the Qandil Mountains where the terrorist organization is based.
The process has encouraged a group of Kurdish families whose children joined the terrorist organization to speak out. Families had staged a sit-in strike in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır last year, calling the PKK to return their children who were persuaded to join the armed group. Since then, several recruits, mostly teenagers and children below the age of 17, escaped the terrorist organization or were captured by security forces and reunited with their families. Ramazan Toy, 29, was among the latest militants to reunite with his family. Toy, who joined the PKK in January 2014, made headlines earlier this month after his reunion. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu cited Toy when speaking about developments in the process and personally congratulated him when the young man was married last week.
If they surrender, militants benefit from a law that exempts them from punishment if they are not engaged in any armed attacks in Turkey.
