POLICE FORCE SHOULDN’T BE SOURCE OF PROBLEMS
Ilnur Cevik

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 10 2007

We have to be extremely careful about casting a shadow on special
state institutions like the military or the police force simply because
harming them would only result in seriously hurting the vital interests
of the country and jeopardizing its security.

We see with sadness that the recent violent events in Turkey have
created question marks about the effectiveness of the police force
and there are claims that the security system has been taken over by
religious orders.

For quite some time there have been consistent claims that a bulk of
the police officials are people with sympathies for the Gulen religious
order and there are demands especially from the secularist elite for an
overhaul of the security system. There is even talk that the military
is closely monitoring these groups and has thick files on them.

We feel this is part of a campaign to undermine the police force
and it is wrong. It is only normal that the police of a country
where the population is overwhelmingly Muslim will have religious
sensitivities. People should be happy that their police have religious
sensitivities and have strong moral values as this will prevent them
from being involved in corruption or mistreating people.

What should be a matter of real concern for our people is the kind
of disarray we have been observing in the police force. We see with
sadness that the police intelligence has not been working effectively
and that tip-offs of possible assassinations are being disregarded.

This was the case in the murder of journalist Hirant Dink. Police
knew that Dink was being threatened by an ultranationalist group who
in fact in the end managed to assassinate him. Those who think this
happened because Dink is of Armenian origin are dead wrong. It could
have been any of us under threat and the result would have been the
same simply because of the disarray among the police departments.

We see very clearly that there are ultranationalist groups who are
extremely active these days that could pose serious threats to our
stability. It is up to the police to take preventive measures to
stop them.

There are growing criticisms leveled against the interior minister even
by his own party people that he is not concentrating on the problems of
the police force and instead he is involved in controversial dealings
of all kinds. We do not believe these claims.

Aksu is an experienced politician and a bureaucrat who should see
the dangers lying ahead and should take measures quickly to correct
the deficiencies in the police force.

Turkey is going through a sensitive period when tensions will be on
the rise especially with the controversy surrounding the election
of the new president and the upcoming elections campaign for the
Parliament. We need a strong and effective apolitical police force
to cope with these challenges.

We cannot allow our police force to be weakened by controversies and
gossip. Yet, we also feel urgent steps have to be taken to end the
deficiencies of the police force, which are so obvious.