Ankara weighs human rights bill for Kurds

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Measures under consideration in the Turkish government deal with discrimination and human rights for the Kurdish minority community, the interior minister said.

Ankara is considering a series of provisions aimed at finding a political solution to lingering issues with Kurdish minorities and guerrilla separatists.

Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, called recently for PKK rebels in Iraq to form so-called peace groups who would surrender to Turkish authorities. Ankara, for its part, is considering a series of amnesty offers and cultural considerations as part of a broader reconciliation plan.

Turkish Interior Minister Besir Atalay said the government was preparing a human rights bill and anti-discriminatory measures to send to lawmakers for their approval, Turkey's leading English-language daily newspaper Today's Zaman reports.

Atalay added there were plans for a trilateral committee of U.S., Iraqi and Turkish officials to discuss the resettlement of PKK members from camps in northern Iraq to compounds inside his country.

The interior minister estimated that there were around 11,000 members of the PKK in Iraq. "I think more than 50 percent of them would return to Turkey," he said.

Ankara had considered a measure to welcome PKK members from Europe but a backlash over the jubilant welcome offered to returning members from Iraq prompted officials to halt additional returns.