Interior Ministry To Reward People Reporting Terrorists Up To TL 4 Million

People who inform on terrorists, help to have them detained or reveal their identity anonymously will be rewarded with up to TL 200,000, an award that can be increased up to TL 4 million with the approval of the Interior Ministry.

However, experts who spoke with Today's Zaman say they are concerned that the system might be manipulated.

According to a regulation that was published in the Official Gazette on Monday, the Interior Ministry will reward citizens who inform on terrorists, as long as they are not public officers or village guards or been involved in any terrorism themselves. People who report on terrorists can file an application for a reward with their provincial police department.

The amount of the award will be determined according to the information, the crime that is exposed or the terrorist who is being reported on. The upper limit for the reward is TL 200,000; however, this amount can be multiplied twentyfold up to TL 4 million.

A commission that will determine the awards will consist of seven members, including an Interior Ministry deputy secretary, three members from the National Police Department and three members from the Gendarmerie General Command.

However, the new regulation has led to concerns that it might create human rights violations and that this award system could be manipulated by some people.

Speaking to Today's Zaman, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) spokesman Ayhan Bilgen said the new system is risky, adding that it might lead to unjust treatment. Bilgen said the concept of terrorism is left ambiguous in Turkey, where terrorism is not necessarily associated directly with violence, implying that he does not believe that this system will work in Turkey.

International Terrorism and Transnational Crime Research Center (UTSAM) Director Süleyman Özeren, also speaking to Today's Zaman, said this system was also used previously in some other countries and it was effective, but its framework must be set very well.

“The main goal of this system must be to capture the senior members of the terrorist organization [the terrorist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)] and the names of those senior members must be determined beforehand. This system can only work under this framework,” said Özeren, adding: “If not, if the system's framework is not drawn well, this system might turn into a disaster. It may turn to an instrument with which people take revenge on their rivals or enemies just like in 1990s. A vacuum that might be left concerning the new system will lead to widespread whistleblowing. Such incidents used to cause many serious victimizations during the 1990s.”

HDP leader Demirtaş warns citizens not to spy on neighbors for money

Co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş has criticized a recent law rewarding people who inform on terrorists for a sum of up to TL 4 million, warning citizens not to spy on their neighbors in exchange for money.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, Demirtaş underlined the fact that Turkey has one of the largest militaries of the NATO member countries, in addition to police, gendarmerie and intelligence units.

“How can a country that has been claiming to be so big and powerful become desperate in spite of all its [security] forces and look to spying?” Demirtaş said. “My advice to all citizens is not to ever spy on your neighbors for money. … Our people should turn down this request.”

This system was also brought to the public agenda in the previous, but it was later suspended by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in 2012.

The regulation that seeks to reward those who inform on the location of senior members of the PKK first came to agenda in 2012, when the Interior Ministry presented it to then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is the current president. But, this regulation was then suspended by former Prime Ministry Undersecretary Efkan Ala, who became the new interior minister after a major reshuffle in the Cabinet following a graft investigation in mid-December in 2013. However, the suspended regulation has returned to the public agenda with the escalation of violence in Turkey over the past weeks. This regulation was presented as though it was completely new by the Interior Ministry when the regulation was published on the Official Gazette on Monday.

Violence has dramatically escalated in Turkey over the past weeks. Turkey launched strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in Syria and PKK targets in Turkey and northern Iraq as part of what it calls a two-pronged war against the terrorist groups. The violence has effectively shelved a settlement process that got under way in 2012 and an accompanying cease-fire.

Ali Aslan Kılıç, Ankara (Cihan/Today's Zaman)