Turkey following EU norms for ‘security bill’: AKP spokesperson

ANKARA

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The Turkish government is considering European Union norms while introducing a controversial new bill that aims to further empower the country’s security services, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spokesperson Beşir Atalay said in a press conference on Oct. 16.

Linking the law to the AKP’s mission to “demilitarize Turkey,” Atalay said it would allow no practice that would disturb ordinary citizens.

Following criticism from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) over the new bill, with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu likening it to the legislation that followed the 1980 coup, Atalay said Kılıçdaroğlu had “no knowledge about the 1980 coup.” He said the total period of detention without charge during the 1980 coup era was 90 days, and noted that he personally was held in custody for one month at the time.

CHP ready go to top court if bill is passed

Meanwhile, the CHP has voiced its confidence that Turkey’s top court will quash the bill, maintaining that the bill had nothing to do with easing violence.

CHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Akif Hamzaçebi said on Oct. 16 that the bill shows how Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is pursuing “an authoritarian regime,” just like his predecessor, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The CHP categorically rejects the legislation, Hamzaçebi added, saying the bill had “nothing to do with counter violence, on the contrary it represses democracy, rights and freedoms, and deprives society of the right to make opposition.”

“If the bill becomes law, then we’ll take it to the Constitutional Court [to be annulled],” he said.

In one article, the bill allows the confiscation of citizen’s property under broad conditions under an article of “crimes against constitutional order,” and Hamzaçebi argued that Turkey had never needed such legislation “even in the worse periods, in times of coups, clashes, and fights against terrorist groups.”

“This is an antidemocratic bill and it overrides the right to property in the Constitution. It’s obvious that the Court will send it back [if Parliament passes the law],” he added, stressing that the CHP would attempt to quash any legislation that suppress freedoms.