Based on decisions taken in the Higher Counterterrorism Board (TMYK) and National Security Council (MGK) meetings of last month, the government is set to reform Turkey's Gendarmerie General Command and make the military institution compatible with European Union standards.

The TMYK gathered three times last month -- following an attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on the Aktütün military outpost on Oct. 3, in which 17 Turkish soldiers died -- to discuss a new strategy to fight terrorism. Members of the MGK, which also convened last month following the TMYK meetings, announced, after a nearly five-hour-long meeting late in October, that Turkey will be restructuring the relevant agencies and institutions to achieve higher efficiency in its counterterrorism effort.

Reforming Turkey's gendarmerie command was also a key demand voiced by the EU in the bloc's latest progress report on Turkey released last week. Today's Zaman sources at the Interior Ministry say most of the draft on the reform plan, developed mainly in last month's TMYK and MGK meetings, is already complete.

The reformed gendarmerie will be based on the French and Italian models. Under the reform plan, the country's prisons and jails will be taken out of the jurisdiction of the gendarmerie command. Instead, it will be restructured to have significant responsibility in securing Turkey's borders. Also, jurisdiction over administrative units known as "belde" -- which are residential towns that are not part of administrative districts and provinces -- will be handed over to the police force. This will leave the gendarmerie's jurisdiction limited to rural areas.

Higher civilian influence

The legal status of the Gendarmerie General Command will be equal to that of the National Police Department. Both departments will be part of the Domestic Security Undersecretariat, a new unit that will be solely responsible for coordinating security units in fighting terrorism. A majority of the senior administrators of the Gendarmerie Command will be appointed from civilian bureaucrats, not unlike the way the MGK was reorganized in 2005 with an EU-inspired reform. Since 2005, the secretary-general of the MGK has been elected from among non-military civil servants.

The Gendarmerie General Command, however, has not been happy about the anticipated change. On Sept. 26, the gendarmerie objected to the reform plan in a letter, written by a senior officer, Gen. Mustafa Bıyık, on behalf of the Gendarmerie General Command, sent to the Interior Ministry.

The statement accused the Interior Ministry of not taking into account the views and opinions of the Gendarmerie General Command, which has served the country for more than 150 years, it stressed. The statement called for the withdrawal of a statement emphasizing the need to restructure the gendarmerie in the draft National Program, released in August this year, as a roadmap for Turkey's plans for the near future.

Gendarmerie drags feet in handing over power to police

A silent tension appears to be simmering between the police and the gendarmerie over who will be in charge of security in newly established districts as the gendarmerie has been reluctant to transfer its powers to the police, sources have said.

The paramilitary gendarmerie maintains security in rural areas, while the police are in charge in districts and city centers. But the gendarmerie refuses to hand over authority to the police in 42 districts created under a recent government decree in Turkey's big cities -- including İstanbul and the capital Ankara -- despite instructions to that effect from local administrative authorities. Sources said the gendarmerie has yet to respond to an order from Ankara Governor Kemal Önal issued three months ago for the transfer of powers to the police in Pursaklar, one of the newly established districts in the capital. The police department has also appointed a local police chief to Pursaklar, but he has practically no power.

The new districts were established under a government decree which went into effect in March. The districts are located in Turkey's big cities, including Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Kocaeli, İzmir, Mersin, Samsun, Sakarya, Erzurum and Eskişehir, in addition to İstanbul and Ankara. Interior Ministry sources say the gendarmerie is unwilling to leave the new districts, all located in vicinity of city centers, especially in İstanbul.


TODAY'S ZAMAN