New Terror Bill Takes All Citizens Terrorist
Representatives of the 17 NGOs read a press statement in front of Istanbul's Sultanahmet Justice Hall on Thursday where an appeal was made to Turkish MPs to end the debate on the bill and reject it.
The move came after similar appeals from leading Turkish human rights groups including the Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER).
On Wednesday, as the controversial bill was debated and approved by the Internal Affairs Commission of Parliament, the country's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) joined in the criticism and said the law would not only shift Turkey from its previous EU projections but also meant a turn to "tolerance policy towards torture".
NGO's React Strongly
In the press statement they read out in Istanbul, representatives of the 17 NGOs united against the bill said "anti-terror laws will not prevent terror but make it more violence, push more innocent people on the side of terror" and argued Turkey did not need an Anti-Terror Law (TMY) but the supremacy of justice.
The statement said "in systems based justice where rights and those who own them are upheld, such laws are not required".
It criticised the draft for:
* Aiming to punish people for intent as well as actions whereas no judicial system should be able to punish intent.
* TMY does not cover new crimes. All offences that are listed in the TMY are already covered by the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and are punished.
* Citizens are seen as terrorists in the draft.
Listing what would happen if the bill was approved in its current state, the NGOs said:
* Freedom of expression will be restricted.
* The right to rally and protest will be restricted.
* Press freedom will face punishment in the form of imprisonment.
* NGOs can be treated as "unarmed terror organisations"
* The right to collect and disseminate news will be seriously restricted.
* Just because of a sign during a protest suspects can be put on trial facing 15 years imprisonment on charges of terrorist organisation membership.
* Those who want to give innocent assistance can be put on trial on charges of providing finances for a terrorist organisation.
* Defence rights will be seriously restriced.
* A monetary award can lead to many innocent people being put on trial.
Jurists Association: Draft full of ambiguity
The Jurists Association which also undersigned the NGO statement simultaneously issued a report on the TMY draft where it was stressed that such a bill was not necessary.
The report said that an act of terror had not been defined in contemporary law or international documents and that in this context it was more a political, rather than a legal determination to identify whether an act against the law was in nature an act of terror.
The report said the wording of the law itself was full of ambiguity and that any act that did not conform with any "type of offence" described elsewhere could be regarded as a "terror offence".
The NGOs that issued Thursday's statement are the Akabe Culture and Education Foundation, Akder Research Culture Foundation, Askon Businessmen Association, Egitim Bir-Sen (Union), Ensar Foundation, Gaye Foundation, Gunisigi Association, Hikmet Foundation, Jurists Association, Mazlumder Istanbul Branch, TİYEMDER, TİMAV, Consumers Union, Society and Law Researches Association, and the Volunteer Organisations of Turkey Foundation.
TIHV: Tolerance to Torture
In a separate development, Turkey's Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) said in its own statement against the controversial bill that it showed Turkey had come from a "zero-tolerance to torture" approach adopted due to the EU accession period, to one that could only be seen as "tolerance to torture".
TIHV said that if the bill was approved in Parliament in its current form, this would mean:
* Restrictions in every field of rights with the right to life, individual safety, freedom of expression and prohibition of torture coming at top of the list.
* As result of these restrictions the channels for the society to breathe through will be blocked.
* All opportunities to create social peace will be eliminated.
The Foundation summarised the contents of the Bill as:
* Eliminating the right to life under the excuse of security.
* Justifying torture and allowing it to re-produce.
* Creating a public opinion without reaction to lawlessness and branding and treating the freedom of expression as same as "terror".
TIHV said the draft law needed to be criticised and evaluated according to the standards and norms of international human rights documents.
Arguing that with the bill, "suspect rights are becoming exceptions, restrictions are becoming regulations" the Foundation expressed serious concern over restrictions on access to attorneys and the detention periods of 4 to 15 days which it said paved the way for "systematic torture". (TK/AD/II/YE)