ANKARA,— Turkey’s parliament has approved a contentious security bill giving police heightened powers to search, arrest and use firearms.
The bill, passed early on Friday, was criticized by opposition parties who say the government is leading Turkey toward authoritarianism.
The measure is also a blow to a Kurdish peace process aimed at ending an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The legislation expands police rights to use firearms, allows them to search people or vehicles, and detain people for up to 48 hours without court authorization. The measures would give governors — not just prosecutors and judges — the right to order arrests.
The main opposition said it would take the measure to Turkey’s Constitutional Court seeking its overturn. Legislators have brawled during debate on the bill.
The security bill comes after 34 people were killed and 360 wounded, including police, earlier in October 2014 when Kurds took to streets over Turkey’s lack of support for the Kurdish border town of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan, which is under attack from Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
Over 1,000 people were detained for their involvement in the protests which caused damage to hundreds of public buildings.
The Turkish parliament’s general assembly approved on March 13, a part of the new internal security bill after a three-week long intense debate.
The reform package, which has been debated in parliament and approved bit by bit, criminalizes participation in protests with covered faces and makes the possession of Molotov cocktails punishable with up to five years behind bars. It has been criticized by the opposition for allegedly curbing down individual rights and freedoms.
According to the approved parts of the bill earlier this month, possessing fireworks, Molotov cocktails, iron balls, slingshots and other handmade explosives during demonstrations will now be banned. A person found in possession of such banned items can be jailed between two-and-half years and four years.
Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or the HDP, dismissed the bill earlier this moth, saying that it was against social peace and the development of democracy in Turkey. “The security bill is a big mistake. It is an incredible, anti-democratic law that will cause distress to people in the street,” he said in Ankara.
Read more about Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, AP | Reuters | AFP | Agencies | Ekurd.net
Related posts:
Business with ISIS – Updated
What makes a good NATO ally? The Case of Turkey
Turkey: Nato’s Islamic State Member
Cultural and Physical Genocide: The Kurdish Case in Turkey
Turkish parliament approves parts of new security bill
What kind of peace? The case of the Turkish and Kurdish peace process
The Hit List: Killing pro-Kurds on the orders of the Turkish State – then and now
Ten Days In Kurdistan — a Retrospective
