Ekip
23 October 2015•Update: 27 October 2015
By Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Turkey has appointed its ex-ambassador to Nigeria as the new chair of the seven-man Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB) for the peace process between the Philippines government and the country's one-time largest rebel group.
In a statement emailed to Anadolu Agency, the Philippines Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process announced that Mustafa Pulat would succeed Ambassador Haydar Berk -- also Turkish.
Berk had initially led the team instrumental in guaranteeing July's smooth decommissioning of an initial 145 combatants from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and 75 crew-serve and high-powered armaments.
Decommissioning is one of the important components of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed in 2014 by the government and the MILF, which seeks to return normalcy to communities affected by decades of armed conflict in Mindanao.
The IDB includes two other foreign experts and four other local experts nominated by the government and the MILF.
The statement quoted the Embassy of Turkey in the Philippines as saying that the Turkish government fully supports the efforts of the Philippines government in bringing a lasting peace to Mindanao, and is committed to its work within the IDB.
"We believe that Ambassador Mustafa Pulat, as a qualified and able diplomat, will continue contributing to the work of the IDB," it added.
Pulat served as Turkey’s ambassador to the Nigeria from 2013-2015, and also as the country’s consul general in Berlin, Germany, until Oct. 2012.
With the arrival of Ambassador Pulat, the IDB is expected to finalize work on Phase 1 of the decommissioning process -- such as the verification and validation of the list of weapons and combatants submitted by the MILF to the body.
"Phase 1 remains to be completed," the statement quoted Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the chair of the Government of the Philippines Negotiating Panel for Talks with the MILF, as telling the ambassador.
"The validation of MILF combatants is a very vital step in ensuring an efficient decommissioning once the Bangsamoro Basic Law hurdles Congress."
Both Houses of Congress have still to pass the BBL, which would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with a new autonomous Bangsamoro government.
The IDB is in charge of conducting inventory, verification, and validation of the MILF’s combatants and weapons as well as developing and implementing a schedule for the decommissioning.
Planning, designing, and implementing of techniques that will put the decommissioned weapons beyond use are also among its tasks.
Ferrer described the decommissioning process as a very critical part of the peace agreement.
"As you understand, there is still no BBL so you are joining us at a crucial and interesting time," she told Pulat.
"We appreciate you getting on board at this time. It is our view that it is better to have systems and the architecture in place for decommissioning even before the basic law is passed rather than scramble later."
*Anadolu Agency reporter Satuk Bugra Kutlugun contributed to this story from Ankara
