Framework bill still pending, but door already closes on Demirtaş: after ECHR rulings, now a political veto

Rastinews — Sources close to the AK Party say Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has told party officials that the "Terror-Free Turkey" framework law will not cover Selahattin Demirtaş or Abdullah Öcalan. The statement drew criticism, coming after years in which the European Court of Human Rights' (ECHR) binding rulings ordering Demirtaş's release have gone unenforced — with a bill that has not even reached parliament now being used to rule out his release in advance.

Discussions at the AK Party's Central Decision and Executive Board (MKYK) meeting on the "Terror-Free Turkey" framework law have reopened debate over the scope of the legislation.

According to information relayed in journalist Abdulkadir Selvi's column on the framework law, Erdoğan told the meeting that the People's Alliance had submitted the bill to parliament and that the process had reached its "finalization stage."

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, who briefed lawmakers at the meeting, reportedly said the legislation was a temporary, narrowly targeted measure aimed solely at dismantling the PKK.

Per Selvi's column, Gürlek argued that other organizations, FETÖ chief among them, would not be able to benefit from the law, and that any Constitutional Court appeals on that basis would not succeed.

The most notable remarks, however, concerned Selahattin Demirtaş and Abdullah Öcalan. According to the column, Gürlek told MKYK members that neither Demirtaş nor Öcalan would benefit from the framework law as currently drafted.

The remarks revived the long-running legal dispute over the ECHR's final rulings ordering Demirtaş's release, which have gone unimplemented to date. Critics say that while the ECHR rulings have been ignored for years, declaring Demirtaş excluded from a bill that has not even passed parliament deepens concerns that the political leadership is predetermining the outcome.

Selvi's column also reported that Gürlek said that if the National Security Council designates the PKK a "dissolved organization," new appointments could replace trustees installed at some municipalities removed from office over alleged terror links — though he noted Esenyurt Municipality had been removed on separate grounds.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Efkan Âlâ reportedly addressed domestic and international political conditions at the meeting, while party spokesman Ömer Çelik said he saw no problem with the legislation, adding: "Both domestic and international conditions favor us. We should seize this opportunity."

Erdoğan described the process as a joint initiative of the People's Alliance and, after the bill was submitted, held his first related contact with Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, the report said.