Turkey Politics Turkey limits court powers to question state spies
Turkey limits court powers to question state spies
| 
| 
Turkey's parliament voted late on Thursday to prevent prosecutors questioning intelligence officials without the prime minister's permission, after a row which analysts said revealed a government split on how to end the war with Kurdish militants.
The governing AK Party hastily introduced the amendment after prosecutors summoned National Intelligence Agency (MIT) chief Hakan Fidan for questioning on secret talks he held with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Fidan was working in Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's office at the time of the talks before the premier promoted him to head MIT. He ignored the summons and the prosecutor who issued it was removed from the case and then put under investigation himself.
Fidan and MIT have repeatedly clashed with police over the detention and exposure of undercover operatives during the arrests of hundreds of suspected PKK sympathisers, media said.
Some analysts have interpreted the move against Fidan as a challenge by followers of a religious group to scupper the prime minister's secret efforts to negotiate an end to the 27-year-old conflict with the PKK.
The AKP denied any split and there was little evidence of it when government deputies swung behind the prime minister and voted to back the amendment to the law on intelligence agencies.
Opposition parties said the motion was a further grab for more power by Erdogan.
"It's clearly contrary to the rule of law. It's not right to give one person this authority. This can only happen in a dictatorship," secularist opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu told the NTV news channel.
He said his Republican People's Party planned to appeal to the constitutional court.
Turkey's courts have become swamped in the last year with dozens of often inter-linked cases against hundreds of suspected PKK supporters, military officers, journalists and others.
The secularist opposition says the judiciary has been filled with officials sympathetic to the government since Erdogan's AK Party came to power in 2002. It won its third election last year with a large majority, giving Erdogan a comfortable mandate.
(source: www.reuters.com)
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Dimitris Mardas
The Drachma, The Myths And The Solutions
Myth No. 1 A return to the drachma would improve the competitiveness of Greek products. In 1980 $1 was exchanged for 42.64 drachmas, in 1987 for 135.18 drachmas and in 2000 for...
Nikos Chrysoloras
Game Over?
Two camps are currently taking shape in the eurozone in relation to the “Greek problem”.
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Euro Or Large Public Sector?
In the May 6 election, Greek voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed their desire for the country to stay in the euro. But they also shifted their favor to parties that want to...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Politicians Have Failed Dismally
Greece will have a caretaker government next week, following the failure of political leaders to agree on a coalition, despite the critical circumstances.
Takis Lainas
A Discreet Message from Europe
Other European countries may be concerned at what will happen in Greece but not to the extent that we would like to believe. They have their own serious problems to...
Nikos Chrysoloras
You Can't Have Your Euro And Leave It, Too
Among the dozens of things which Greek leftists seem incapable of grasping is that the country cannot abrogate its commitments with its partners for reducing its deficit and putting specific...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Renegotiate the Bailout
Irrespective of whom the next Greek government will comprise and when it will be formed, its first and foremost task will be to renegotiate the country’s bailout package with international...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Patience With Greece Is To Everyone's Benefit
I do not know what concrete stand Europe will ultimately adopt towards Sunday’s Greek election and a possible fresh poll soon, but I know that the turning off of the...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
An Accident Waiting To Happen
The big issue now facing the country is how the balance of political forces resulting from yesterday’s election will enable them to govern. However, there is one thing that will...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Force Politicians To Cooperate
Our vote this Sunday must aim to force politicians cooperate to the country’s and our benefit. Without the collaboration of at least the two major parties, conservative New Democracy (ND)...
Nikos Chrysoloras
Thanks to Greece, Europe...
Greece’s contribution to European integration in the last two years has not been adequately appreciated. Our country has essentially functioned as a catalyst for leaps towards the federalization of Europe...
Dinos Koutsolioutsos
Let Us Dare to Dream
For Greece, the main benefit of being in the eurozone was and remains geopolitical security. We entered the common currency with many other deceptive visions, such as modernization, but our...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Can We Hold Out?
The news is quite good but there is also a very worrying development. The good news is that Europe now realizes daily that the austerity model is unfruitful.
Aggelos Stagos
No Heartening News Ahead of the Elections
Seen in isolation, yesterday’s forecasts by the Bank of Greece of a 5% recession and 19% unemployment in 2012 do not offer particular relief.
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
The Positive Protest Vote
Neither indignation nor despair provide a basis for good judgement and voters that will be swayed by them in the May 6 elections are likely to do harm to the...
Aggelos Stagos
An Hollande Victory No Cause For Rejoicing
Many believe that a victory by Socialist leader Francois Hollande in the second round of the French Presidential elections will change the balance of power in the eurozone, as he...
Nikos Chrysoloras
Greece: The Land of the Surreal
What we are witnessing in the pre-election campaign currently unfolding confirms that we live in the Land of Surreal.
Dinos Koutsolioutsos
Crisis Threatens Home Ownership In Greece
Greece’s high home ownership rate appears to be threatened by the economic crisis.
Nikos Chrysoloras
The End Of The Two-Party System
It would be a mistake to try to identify a single determining factor to interpret the results of the latest opinion polls according to which the traditionally two largest parties,...
Aggelos Stagos
Some Key Questions for the "Indignados"
Anyone following the opinion polls, the media, the blogspots, the moves and statements of politicians and labor activists must really be scared nowadays.
Aggelos Stagos
Watch Out Against Pre-Election Violence
As we head to a fresh poll, the partial meltdown of an incompetent State machinery, citizens’ heightened anger and the widespread populism which acquires fascist hues are the seeds that...
Dimitris Mardas
The Early Election is a Pointless Political Experiment
Coca-Cola has gone, Credit Agricole is getting ready to leave and the de-industrialization of the country is accelerating at a pace unique in Europe. The economy is faltering and some...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
A Pointless Seamen's Strike
The planned seamen’s and intercity bus drivers’ strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday this Easter week will have no winners, only losers. They are pointless and harmful to society as a...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Politicians, Take Stock Before It Is Too Late!
The suicide of a pensioner protesting the austerity measures in Syntagma Square has to cause something more than sadness and fear to the political system. Politicians must seriously take stock...
Aggelos Stagos
Why The Austerity Debate Is Largely Irrelevant To Greece
The austerity recipe adopted and imposed throughout the eurozone by the German government is now coming under wide criticism. Popular discontent, particularly in the countries of the European South, is...
Dimitris Kastriotis
No Turning A Blind Eye To Illegal Immigration
In a press release last December (21/12/2011), the Court of Justice of the European noted that “in 2010, Greece was the gateway for entry into the ’s territory for...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Voters Feel They Are Being Duped Again
The two major parties are trying to rally their traditional supporters in order to achieve a respectable showing in the coming elections and then govern together.
Nikos Chrysoloras
The Anomaly of the Greek Black Hole
Greek GDP has fallen from €237 billion before the crisis to €206 billion today and the pessimists see it falling as low as €180 billion before it starts recovering. So,...
Nikos Chrysoloras
Financial regulation: Trapped in the no-man’s land of paradoxes
The ongoing debate regarding financial regulation in Europe has exposed a series of paradoxes in the structure of our economic system, which partly explain why our responses to the crisis...
Grigoris Nikolopoulos
Greece Must Change Attitude Towards Europe
According to Jorg Asmussen, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, “a further internal devaluation will ensure Greece remains in the euro”.
