Rights activists criticise Turkey’s latest bill, which proposes surveillance-type Big Brother
By: Benjamin Richards
Tags: Coronavirus, Human Rights, Turkey

Human rights activists strongly criticised the Turkish government’s new law, which rights defenders said would lead to Big Brother-type surveillance, threatening many players in civil society with a democratic and liberal fabric.

In response to growing financial crimes in the country, the bill, which is expected to be debated and passed in parliament this week, was presented. The ruling government, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has stated that it would be possible to curb the funding of the proliferation of weapons through the draught legislation.Due to inadequate measures against financial crimes, the state justified overstepping few freedoms enjoyed by organisations as Ankara was on the verge of being put on the “grey list” of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

One of the most dangerous aspects of the proposed bill was that it offered a freewill offering to the government, including contentious articles enabling the government to nominate trustees to NGOs (NGOs). It also granted the ruling party the power, if its members faced a terror-related investigation, to temporarily suspend the activities of organisations and their properties.

Many analysts were of the opinion that the newly introduced legislation runs the risk of violence by the Turkish authorities. Turkey has a tradition of using similar laws to clamp down on opponents, including mayors in Kurdish-led municipalities, former leaders of the Democratic Party of the Pro-Kurdish People (HDP) or members of left-wing groups. The troubling instance of this scenario was that many municipalities were now governed by government-appointed trustees, previously by the HDP government.

The report claimed that the draught bill would allow the authorities to track organisations’ financial transactions and fundraising activities, placing them under the guidance of the Ministry of the Interior.On Monday, the deputy parliamentary head of the CHP, Engin Altay, said, “The government introduced a lot of irrelevant items in the draught bill.” It is possible to use these rules randomly against organisations, resulting in the closing of all democratic networks.

The President of the Turkish Human Rights Group, Ozturk Turkdogan, has condemned a proposed bill to stifle the independence of different organisations. If there is an aspect of crime, a criminal investigation against the actions of associations may be initiated,” he said.” But it would interfere with the internal affairs of civil society organisations to make this a routine initiative of the state authorities.

“If it is legislated and if the President does not veto it, we will resort to the jurisdiction of all relevant legislation, and we will ensure that this overt intervention in our civil sphere becomes visible on international platforms,” he said.

Approximately 22 human rights organisations, part of the Solidarity Network for Human Rights Defenders, have collectively raised a concern about Turkey’s growing grasp on these organisations, which have already lost a large portion of their organisational space due to coronavirus restrictions.Before Feb. 28, many groups were prohibited from conducting their general meetings, and all outdoor protests were banned for the year. In addition, the authorities have detained and interrogated some physicians for questioning the treatment of the pandemic by the government.