"Practice of Martial Law"

"In the context of similar laws enforced in the USA after 11 September thousands of Muslims were put to jail just because of the denunciation of their neighbours. The aim is to keep the society under control by extraordinary means. This is obviously not a 'method to fight crime'" said lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı about the "citizen informant" application that is currently on the agenda in Turkey.

The citizen informant practice was decided in the scope of amendments in the Anti-Terror Law (TMK) in 2006 but not applied until today. It now comes into life after a change of regulations.

The Ministry of the Interior has launched new efforts with the decision to take additional measures against the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in recent times. The application can be summarized in short as "denounce and earn" - a person who gives information about the whereabouts or identity of a criminal will be given a monetary reward.

The "citizen informant" system was extensively used in the USA during the term of Senator of Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s and is still being continued. In Turkey, the system was applied in particular during the times of the coup d'états on 12 March 1971 and 12 September 1980. A new special regulation draft brought it now to the agenda again.

According to the Milliyet newspaper, the notice reward application was passed through parliament on 29 June 2006 but had not been implemented yet. Article 19 of Law No.5532 as accepted by the Turkish Parliament in the scope of the amendment of the Anti-Terror Law (No.3713) will now be put into practice in order to implement the notice reward application. Therefore, a draft regulation prepared by the Ministry of the Interior was recently sent to the related bodies.

Once the details of the draft have been agreed on, the regulation will come into force after it will have been published in the Official Gazette. The regulation will define who will be rewarded with money under what conditions and how.

According to the law that has never been enforced until now, "those (...) who help to apprehend criminals under this law or provide information about their whereabouts or identity shall be entitled to a financial reward".

"Implementation of a military junta"

Lawyer Selçuk Kozağaçlı, General President of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), deems the application as an "implementation of martial law".

Kozağaçlı commented, "The application is part of an ongoing process and does not come as a surprise. It must not be seen on its own since this issue started with the question on 'secret witnesses'. Now we are continuing with the 'informant reward'. Right after this the 'discretionary proof' will come".

"These applications abolish the 'right to personal security' as recognized by the Criminal Procedure Law (CMK) and the Constitution. We are talking about being convicted upon the statement of a witness of whom you do not know his/her identity and whom you cannot ask; we are talking about fighting a crime which an informant might just have invented. After a while, the judges might start saying, 'There is no concrete evidence but according to the discretionary proof I believe that you committed this crime...' Similar decisions were given by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in the 1970s", Kozağaçlı warned.

"The law does not create a benefit in terms of criminal procedure either. This is the implementation of a military junta. This is a part of criminal policy. Criminal policy as a whole is being transformed resulting in the abolishment of the constitutional guarantee", the lawyer indicated.

"Let my neighbour be blacklisted instead of me"

Kozağaçlı continued, "The martial law commands issued circulars starting 'Dear citizen informants'. The people applied to the denunciation mechanism as an indicator for their 'loyalty to the state' or to avoid being blacklisted and harmed themselves. Some people tried to settle their personal animosities this way; others gave false information to cozy up to the public force or to increase their own reliability. It has taken too long to realize the results of this application".

"In the context of similar laws enforced in the USA after 11 September thousands of Muslims were put to jail just because of the denunciation of their neighbours. The aim is to keep the society under control by extraordinary means. This is obviously not a 'method to fight crime'."

No sanctions for whistle-blowers

Lawyer Ergin Cinmen criticized, "It is contrary to the law if this regulation will be applied in terms of inciting the people to whistleblowing". Cinmen emphasized that the law lacks a regulation on 'unfounded denunciations' and drew attention to the fact that the law does not foresee any sanctions in that case. (AS)

Article 19

Rewards: (1) Those, to be specified by the Ministry of the Interior, who help to apprehend criminals under this law or provide information about their whereabouts or identity shall be entitled to a financial reward according to Law 1481 on the Prevention of Certain Crimes against Public Order. The amount of the reward, the procedure and rules shall be defined by the Ministry of the Interior. (2) The Ministry of the Interior shall take measures to protect those receiving a reward.