Giving the police a blank check

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an is in a hurry and wants it passed and implemented as soon as possible. Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu insists everything is in order and according to EU criteria. But it looks like the angry debate on the new Internal Security Law the government has drafted and submitted to parliament will not subside any time soon.

On Feb. 17, the topic resulted in a fistfight in parliament leaving a number of deputies injured. The opposition is united in considering this draft law as nothing short of an attempt at turning Turkey into a police state. There is no other conclusion one can arrive at after looking at some of it draconian articles.

It allows the interior minister or governor to declare states of emergency. It increases police powers without any legal safeguards against the misuse of these powers. These powers include the right to search people bodily, as well as searching their houses, without a court order.

All that is needed is ?reasonable suspicion? but the law does not define any limits to this. It allows people to be detained ?incommunicado? for up to 48 hours in the same way. Worst of all, it allows police the right to fire weapons with deadly intent at people brandishing Molotov cocktails, even if these are used simply against buildings.

The police can do the same against people carrying what is broadly defined as objects similar to Molotov cocktails. In addition to this, people wearing balaclavas or covering their faces in other ways during demonstrations are liable to a five years prison sentence.

The government says these measures are needed to protect life. Critics point out that most of the dead during the Gezi Park protests and last year?s Kobane protests were killed by the police...