Security laws taking Turkey backward in terms of freedoms

Draconian new security laws that will grant law enforcement officers the discretion to detain citizens without court orders are taking Turkey backward in terms of freedoms, according to Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (T?HV) President ?ebnem Korur Fincanc?.

The new security package "aims at legalizing the violations of law enforcement officials," Fincanc? said in a recent interview.

Can you give us a snapshot of the human rights situation in Turkey?

Unfortunately, I cannot start with positive comments. We are really going through a period where human rights violations are reaching a serious dimension. There is a regression in terms of the legal framework. The so-called internal security package [which will be reviewed in parliament] is very worrying; the package aims at legalizing the violations of law enforcement officials. 

When it comes to democratization, we live in a situation where freedom of expression has nearly been abolished, journalists are being kept under serious oppression and only pro-government publications are allowed. Freedom of expression is not only about the press. There are also other ways society expresses itself; that means sometimes people go out on the streets, but the tendency is to intervene violently against even the smallest group that wants to express themselves. 

But many would compare Turkey with the 1980s and 1990s when the human rights record was terrible with widespread torture and extrajudicial killings. 

Obviously, we are not in those years where we saw the cruelest face of torture. But that does not mean that torture no longer exists. Yes there is no longer torture by electricity, and they don't kill detainees during torture and then say they jumped from the fourth floor....