The Turkish government has proposed a bill to the parliament that will grant immunity from prosecution to top Turkish intelligence officials if passed into law, Press TV reports.
The Turkish parliament will meet next week to discuss the bill, which would also necessitate the prime minister’s approval for the senior intelligence officials of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to be summoned to testify in any probe into charges leveled against them.
The move comes as prosecutor Sadrettin Sarikaya summoned MIT chief Hakan Fidan to testify in connection with an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union, the alleged urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group.
Ilyas Dogan, an academic at the Gazi University in Anakara, said that the prosecutor had considered MIT’s talks with the PKK “as a crime, but this is not an area of law. It is an area of politics.”
“Considering such talks as crimes is not compatible with our legal system,” Dogan added.
The former Turkish intelligence chief, his deputy and two other intelligence operatives have also been summoned to testify as part of the probe, reports say.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has criticized the summons and said that people should not be accused simply because they “fulfill their duties.”
“There are powers given to organizations based on laws and when they are accused while fulfilling their duties based on these laws, high caution is needed. This is an unfortunate and upsetting situation for Turkey,” the Turkish president said in a press conference on Sunday.
Meanwhile, some Turkish officials oppose the proposal to protect intelligence officials against prosecution.
The future intelligence approach in Turkey regarding the fight against the PKK is likely to be affected by the result of the ongoing controversy about the rights and limits of top intelligence officials in the country.
—Agencies