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 Associated Professor Vahit Bicak, the human rights adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said laws should not be underestimated while fighting against terrorism.
(Today's Zaman, 20.08.2005) Associated Professor Vahit Bicak, the human rights adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said laws should not be underestimated while fighting against terrorism.
Bicak, emphasizing that the Fight against Terrorism Bill (TMK) is one of the most sensitive laws in terms of human rights, disclosed, "New legal arrangements should obviously consider the balance between fighting against terrorism, protecting human rights and meeting the requirements of the state law." Responding to Zaman"™s questions, Bicakci underlined the security concerns emerged by recent terrorist incidents. Bicakci, who is also an expert on the penal code, said: " the use of any kind of method to fight against terrorism is not legitimate. There are rules to obey according to the state law against terrorism. Mentioning that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued man resolutions against Turkey related to the TMK that is still in force, Bicak said some of the criticized bills were changed by the harmonization bills, which was adopted during the European Union (EU) process. Bicak disclosed that current legislation provides sufficient authority for security forces during the fight against terrorism within the state law and added: "There is no reason to restrict freedom during the fight against terrorism. There is a need to extend rights in Turkish laws at the moment. The claims that more freedoms have been provided by the harmonization laws and the fact that some of them need to be taken back is erroneous. The problem does not derive from non-authorization. Authorities of the Turkish security forces are still more than their European counterparts. A draft on the process of preparation in Britain is misreported to Turkey. In the freedom-security balance security weighs more in Turkey. There is a need to strengthen freedom to provide the balance."
20.08.2005
Murat Aydin Ankara |
