Turkey May Create Parallel Police Force

02/02/2020 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – A proposal submitted in January by Turkey’s ruling Islamist Justice and Development (AKP) Party would expand the powers of a nighttime security force known as the watchmen. This proposal has drawn significant pushback in recent days, as the opposition claims that it would create a parallel police force loyal to the AKP. The parliamentary internal affairs commission began reviewing the proposal on Wednesday and has approved 9 of the 18 articles in the legislation.

The opposition has identified several trouble areas within the proposal. Watchman applicants need only have completed middle school—a fact that the AKP touts as job creation. The proposal also grants a wide range of powers. Whereas police need to have a reasonable suspicion to conduct searches, the watchmen would be able to search at their own discretion. They would have the right to review crime scene evidence and use force. The watchmen were abolished in 2008 but reinstated following the 2016 coup attempt.

Several have commented that this proposal would give such expansive powers to the watchmen that they would effectively police daily life in neighborhoods, yet without any accountability that regular police units are subject too. This would put anyone viewed as standing in opposition to the government at risk. For Turkey’s religious minorities, who are already suffering from increased pressures initiated by the government, the presence of a newly empowered watchmen force could serve to further drive them underground.

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