Turkish parliament approves bill to protect top intelligence officials

According the new law, top officials of the National Intelligence Organization, known as MIT, or any public employee, assigned by the prime minister to fulfill a special duty cannot be investigated without the premier’s approval.

The Turkish government had proposed the bill after a special prosecutor had called the MIT’s chief Hakan Fidan, for testimony, reportedly as part of an investigation into the talks between Turkey’s top intelligence officials of the country and representatives of the armed group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK.

It seems that the new legislation would allow Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization to pursue more effective initiatives in the fight against the PKK, but some political parties believe that the legislation will only make top intelligence officials in the country immune to prosecution.

The law could make a negotiated end to the conflict between Turkish security forces and the PKK more achievable than ever, as holding talks with the armed Kurdish group will not be considered a crime anymore.

The country’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, however, believes that the new law will bring more damages than benefits to the security and democracy in the country and has vowed that it will take the new legislation to the Constitutional Court.

Some politicians say if it was necessary to change the law on activity of the National Intelligence Organization, it should have come as part of a wider reform.

The true impact of the new law on Turkey’s decades-long efforts to end the PKK issue in the country remains to be seen.