New Anti-Terror Bill Incites More Violence
Ayhan Bilgen, the Deputy Chairman of the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), told Bianet that he was seriously concerned of escalating violence in Turkey if the draft was passed in its present form by Parliament.
"To adopt violence against violence serves no purpose but to strengthen violence" he said. "This is the kind of intervention that will stimulate the violence stemming from the Kurdish problem instead of focusing on the Kurdish issue and its reasons".
Human Rights Association Chairman Yusuf Alatas argued that the bill was "incompatible with human rights" and said it intended to bring back all of the country's past suppression laws and create a silent society.
Both activists said that as the bill would affect everyone, everyone should challenge the draft while it is still being debated at Parliament.
Bilgen: It will fire back, violence will increase
Ayhan Bilgen said the mentality behind the bill was "to punish activities that could be perceived as supporting armed groups in order to eradicate those groups, thus preventing that support".
"In my view," he added, "just the opposite will happen. Wherever you are in the world, if you punish those using democratic means, you will be doing what the armed groups want".
Bilgen emphasised that Article 6(c) of the bill described the offence of "conducting activities to recruit for the organisation" doubling the prison term where such an offence was committed at "associations, foundations, political parties, labour and professional establishments or in any building, club house, bureau of any of their side establishments, or in educational establishments or student hostels as well as their annexes".
He argued that "the mentality here is to prevent people from being used in a supporting way and isolating them. But this will fire back. When social activities, political work is punished, people will inevitably direct themselves to the field of armed activities".
Bilgen said what appears to have been overlooked is that when the concept of "terrorist organisation" is mentioned currently, there is a general consensus that the society is aware what this refers to. "But a while later, when the conjecture changes, with this flexible and ambiguous understanding, the target itself could change".
He added, "we need to see from today that this will target every section of the society. In the past they said only leftists would be put on trial under article 312, that the State Security Courts would be involved in the struggle against separatism. But non of these happened. They should not think they can get away with it saying that it will specifically effect religious groups, the PKK and left-wing organisations".
Rights advocates to pay
Bilgen, said that both in the articles of the bill and its reasoning, it could be felt that freedom of expression, democratic struggle and human rights activists were being held responsible and expected to pay for the failure of the security forces and intelligence organisations in conducting their duties.
"This framework is that, 'using human rights advocacy you will be defending terror or something else' and because of this, it will incriminate defending human rights, allow for the conviction of it" he said.
"The field of carrying out politics will be narrowed down" he argued. "The very fact that the bill itself had to be prepared shows that the ties between sections of the society against the status quo and the government, the very credit between them, is coming to an end."
Alatas, meanwhile, said it needed to be noted that even debate of the bill was being prevented.
"They did not disclose it beforehand, they are not allowing a debate" he said. "Not even Parliamentarians are free. Everyone standing up against the law will be accused of supporting terrorism and standing up against the regime. I do not even believe it will be debated at Parliament".
Alatas added, "This government, which is trying to shelve democracy, has no right to talk about freedoms, democracy nor human rights." (TK/EO/II/YE)