Gov't unsure of what to do with controversial security check bill

Duvar English

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is unsure about what to do with a bill stipulating security checks for those who are going to be employed in the public sector and has been trying to find a solution with its lawmakers specialized in law.

The Constitutional Court ruled for the removal of the controversial regulation, which includes security checks and archive inquiries, on Nov. 29, 2019, upon applications of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmakers.

Following the top court's decision, the AKP made various changes in the regulation and brought it to parliament's agenda, before withdrawing it due to backlash from the opposition, which voiced concerns on implementing state of emergency conditions via seeking criteria that was only sought for Armed Forces members for all public employees.

The government is currently considering two options, pro-government media reported, which are making some changes in the regulation or canceling it completely.

The initial version of the regulation drew criticism within the AKP, prompting the party to organize two separate meetings with the participation of its lawmakers specialized in law.

The lawmakers said that statements such as "loyalty to the state" need to be based on solid evidence when carrying out security checks on those who will be employed in the public sector for the first time.

The deputies also said that seeking information from the people living in the same neighborhood as the individual to be employed is not a proper method.

"This information can't constitute solid evidence. The accuracy of a neighbor's statements is highly debatable," they added.

The second suggestion in the meetings was removing the practice of security checks from the regulation and keep archive scanning instead due to the fact that the former is "subjective" and the latter is more compatible with democratic rights and freedoms.

As a result of the meetings, the party decided to prepare two separate drafts on basing security checks on objective criteria. Should the aforementioned can't be carried out, only archive scanning must be included in the bill, the deputies said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to decide on which draft to pick and the AKP will bring it into parliament's agenda afterwards.

Collecting information obtained from security or archive checks in a pool was also discussed in the meetings, which was suggested as a way to prevent intelligence units from carrying out investigations separately.