AGIRÎ - Drawing attention to the need for a legal reform in the Peace and Democratic Society Process Lawyer Ömer Kaya said: "Reform means overcoming the old and building a new understanding."

 

While the Peace and Democratic Society Process continues, there is curiosity about what kind of legal regulations will be made in the Parliament. Commenting on the legal regulations, lawyer Ömer Kaya said that the government still interprets the issue through "existence and security."

 

Kaya warned, "The political wing addresses the matter only as a security problem. However, this issue is, above all, about establishing social peace and confronting the past. The current status quo is built on a politics of denial rather than national consciousness and social democratization. If this process is not removed from being election material and seen as a social reality, it risks returning to the previous process, as happened before."

 

'A NEW UNDERSTANDING MUST BE BUILT'

 

Kaya stated that a solution could be possible through legal reform and said: "Reform means surpassing the old and building a new understanding. The legal system in Turkey, founded on a single language and monolithic approach, inherently produces a policy of denial. Steps taken without changing this foundation only provide temporary relief. The expectation of society is democratization that eliminates division, recognizes every color, and offers legal security at the constitutional level."

 

'THE RIGHT TO HOPE IS NOT A COURTESY'

 

Addressing the issue of the "right to hope," which is at the center of debates, Kaya stated that the Ministry of Justice's stance on this matter is '"political, not legal." Emphasizing that associating the right to hope only with Abdullah Öcalan is a misunderstanding, "The right to hope is a universal right to life that keeps alive the will of all individuals sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment to reunite with society. The Ministry hides behind a political identity by saying, 'it is not in our laws.' However, Turkey is subject to the decisions and conventions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It has the obligation to implement these decisions. The right to hope is not a favor; it is a requirement of law," he said.   

 

KAYYIMS AND ILL PRISONERS  

 

Pointing out that the government needs to take concrete steps to move the process forward, Kaya concluded: "The practice of kayyım (trustees that mortgages the will of the people should end. The situation of ill prisoners struggling to survive in prisons should be urgently evaluated within a legal and humanitarian framework. The arbitrary judicial pressure on political prisoners must be ended to pave the way for the process. In order for the philosophy of 'brotherhood of peoples' to be realized during this critical period in the Middle East, Turkey needs to secure its own internal peace through concrete legal arrangements."