Author(s): Cihat TANIÅ**
Amnesty, literally means forgiving someone’s offense or crime. As a legal term, it denotes the extenuation or exemption of adjudged penalties by the relevant government bodies. It has been applied in almost every society with different purposes at different times throughout the history. Pardon is one of the most frequently used tactics especially when the state failed to function in pre- or post-war periods. This can result from the purposes of reintegrating the disturbers of public peace into society, reconsolidating the state authority and meeting the demand for military recruitment. In the Ottoman Empire, only sultans had the power of granting a pardon and amnesty at first. This power was also endowed to the parliament with an amendment on the 7th article of the Constitution in 1909. When the Turkish Grand National Assembly was opened, pardoning power was delegated completely to the parliament. As mentioned above, one of the most striking examples of amnesty savings, especially in extraordinary periods, is the amnesty issued during World War I. In this context, a series of amnesties have been issued mainly for military purposes. Thus, it was aimed to meet the need of soldiers on the fronts
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