However, it contains so many restrictions that it can hardly be taken up. It applies only to PKK members who have never borne arms, killed a soldier or held a leading position in the party, and agree to cooperate with the state, betray their comrades and provide details of the structure and strategy of the party. It is also limited to only six months. At the same time the government pushed through an amnesty law that favours Mafia gangsters and fascist murderers and torturers. This law was passed in the face of widespread popular outrage.
Many legal proceedings are to be stopped.
Demirel cannot exercise a veto a second time, however. Turkish newspapers have noted those who are to profit from the amnesty. Despite Ecevit's assertions to the contrary, Turkish legal experts have pointed out that building contractors will fall under the scope of the amnesty law, including those who came under suspicion following the earthquake last year on the Mediterranean coast. ANAP ensured that the law amnestying corrupt politicians was placed on the statute book, while the MHP has looked after the interests of Mafia godfathers and fascist murderers. Since the establishment of the MHP at the end of the 1960s, its activists have conducted a virtual civil war against the Turkish workers' and student movements, as well as against religious and national minorities.