Police Regaining Vast Powers

A provisional law which would give the police greater freedoms in searching, using guns, collecting personal information, archiving and using it, has been accepted by the Parliamentary Justice Commission.

Ankara

The provisional law has evoked strong reactions by MPs, trade unionists and lawyers. It would give security forces unprecedented, and many claim unrestricted, powers.

Reactions by MPs

The acceptance of the provisional law was commented on by an MP from the People's Republican Party, Yüksel Corbacioglu, who said that it represented "one-nil for the police state against a judiciary state".

Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP Hakki Köylü complained that the new law would allow the police to shoot anyone who "smacked someone in the face twice and ran away".

Protest by trade unionists

The Trade Union Confederation of Public Workers (KESK) has called for a rejection of the law, saying that "our country does not need more pressure, more police force, but more democracy. We call on all parts of society who support democracy, human rights and freedoms to oppose this law".

It went on to say: "This law, which foresees questioning in the streets, arrests without establishing identities, taking everyone's fingerprints and preparing files on them, unlimited authorization to search, random pressure put on syndicates and mass organizations, and using violence without warning, includes many practices that are incongruous with democracy. "

On the way to a police state

Lawyer Ali Koc has claimed that such a law would create a police state and that it represented a set-back in the progress previously made with laws conforming to European Union standards. He summarised the law as follows:

"Everyone, everywhere, could be stopped, searched as a suspect, could be exposed to gun use and violence. And the only restraint would be the 'good will' of the police officer in question. The police would be able to search all kinds of buildings, including homes." (TK/EÜ/AG/EÜ)