Turkish parliament passes amendment to MT law

[Saithan]

Turkish parliament has approved a government-sponsored amendment to a bill that requires prosecutors to receive special permission from the prime minister when taking legal action against or questioning intelligence officials.

The bill, drafted by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), aims to amend Article 26 of the Law on MİT Personnel. The Justice Commission endorsed the bill on Tuesday night and added an additional ad hoc article, allowing incumbent MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan to benefit from the law.

The Parliament approved the first article of the bill which initially said “MİT personnel or those who are assigned by the prime minister for a special duty...” but changed to “MİT personnel or those who were assigned by the prime minister from public officials for a certain duty...” during a session on Thursday night.

The proposed MİT law was presented to Parliament by the AK Party last week following a dispute that emerged after a specially authorized prosecutor summoned Fidan and four others to testify as part of a probe into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), a group which prosecutors say controls the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and other affiliated groups.

If the proposed law is passed, an investigation into MİT officials on charges of crimes that are heard by specially authorized courts can be launched only after written permission is obtained from the prime minister. Opposition parties and some others are against the proposed bill on the grounds that it is designed for the benefit of certain people and hence runs contrary to the rule of law.

source: Turkish parliament passes amendment to M

I am sooo not thrilled with this law. I understand the need to keep intelligence restricted, but passing this law doesn't have anything to do with the work MIT does, as I see it.

I see it as a means for Erdogan to hide what he's doing, but Erdogan must not forget that AKP won't always be in charge and just like with Adnan Menderes and the 1980 coup generals, he will one day be held accountable for what he's done.

Transparency is important especially regarding judiciary, I mean, what's with reassigning police officers, prosecutors etc. from KCK cases. Is it because they did something wrong, or are they being removed because they do their job and dig up dirt.

 

[what]

CHP will take this bill to court.

 

[Ottoman-Turk]

this erdogan is getting on my nerves hes splitting the country into 4 - dinciler - milliyetciler - cumhuriyetciler - pkkcilar

among these milliyetciler yani MHP has dincilik and cumhuriyetcilik init so is the best by far but the head is ****

 

[Deno]

I actually love Erdogan but this bill gives the Erdogan a power more than a prime minister should have... I know there was a need for a restriction on questining Secret Sevice Agents but in my opnion power should given to National Security Council rather than to one mans hand, Prime Minister...

 

[Cerian]

Well, if you read the previous law and the current one, you would have seen that nothing in substance have been changed except prosecution of MIT officials are clearly stated so law itself won't be implement in an unintended fashion that lawmakers envisioned. However, I don't mean that this is a right way to investigate such cases. I think parliamentary commissions should question MIT officials. But timing of this event and the way its brought up is quite dubious considering whats happening around Turkey.