Court lifts order to detain intel staff

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Sadettin Sarıkaya, the prosecutor in the KCK probe, was removed after calling MİT officials to testify. DHA photo

The office of an Istanbul prosecutor with special authority removed a standing order to detain four intelligence officers yesterday, three days after Parliament passed an amendment that bars prosecutors from launching an investigation against intelligence officials without the prime minister’s consent.

The orders for the detention of Turkey’s former National Intelligence Agency (MİT) Undersecretary Emre Taner and former MİT Assistant Undersecretary Afet Güneş were removed along with an order that called for the apprehension of two other MİT officials.

A detention order was issued Feb. 10 for the former MİT officials in connection with a probe into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Interior minister denies reports of reassignment
Meanwhile, Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin vehemently denied claims that some 700 police officers in Istanbul were reassigned to different posts in eastern Turkey.

“This is unsubstantiated news. That is 100 percent false. This is an irrelevant piece of news regarding our friends who received appointments in the past,” Minister Şahin said.

Istanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın, on the other hand, said the re-assignments represented routine annual arrangements and had nothing to do with the MİT probe. “I do not know what was said in the press, but there is nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.

The prosecutor with special authority rocked Turkey’s political scene on Feb. 8 when he summoned MİT Chief Hakan Fidan, his predecessor Emre Taner, former deputy Afet Güneş and two other MİT employees for questioning in a probe into the KCK. The prosecutor was later removed from the investigation.