On Oct. 21, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu introduced the framework of his government’s new bill aiming to change the bureaucratic alignment of the law enforcement agencies. Davutoglu — who did not provide the public with a detailed draft of his plans — seeks to restructure the Interior Ministry and the police with an emphasis on a new parliamentary watchdog commission representing all elected parties to keep law enforcement forces accountable in case they abuse their power.
“We prepared the reform package on domestic security and the protection of freedoms after a week of intensive efforts,” Davutoglu said. “All authority over the personnel and the records of the Turkish gendarmerie and the Coast Guard will be transferred to the Interior Ministry — with the exception of matters relating to the military. It is high time to strengthen Turkey’s civilian and democratic character.”
It certainly is important to strengthen the country’s democracy, but is distancing the gendarmerie from the military the right step? Ersan Sen, a well-known law professor in Istanbul, told Al-Monitor, “In principle, there is nothing wrong with bringing the gendarmerie forces under the total control of the Interior Ministry. Although there is no constitutional obstacle, this is not possible to do without changing the present law. The question is, do we create a new law and propose a change in the system every time there is something that does not fit with the interests of the government in power?” He said, “Moreover, the personnel of this force are all graduates of military higher education. If it is put under civilian authority, how will they cooperate with the military? How will they hire the new personnel? Will the military budget continue to pay for the gendarmerie; if not, why should we insist on calling this new force gendarmerie? It will be a police force.”
Some experts saw the move as linked to Turkey's ongoing peace negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or to preventing the gendarmerie from helping law enforcement pursue corruption charges against the government.
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