New decree ties intelligence agency to President Erdoğan

Turkey dismissed hundreds of civil servants and boosted President Erdoğan's powers over the national intelligence agency MİT in two decrees published on Friday under the emergency rule imposed after an attempted coup last year
Friday, 25 August 2017 18:09

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will head Turkey's National Intelligence Coordination Board, and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) is set to report directly to the president instead of the prime minister, according to decrees published on Friday.

In addition, MİT will be allowed to gather intelligence on Turkish military personnel, a task previously carried out by the military itself.

Under the latest decrees, published in the government's Official Gazette, the president would also need to approve any request made for the MİT head, currently Hakan Fidan, to act as a witness in court. 

According to the decrees, more than 900 civil servants from ministries, public institutions and the military were dismissed. Those sacked included more than 100 academic personnel.

The Ankara chief prosecutor's office will have the authority to investigate members of parliament for alleged crimes committed before or after an election, according to one of the measures.

One of the decrees also ordered the closure of the pro-Kurdish news agency Dihaber and two newspapers, all based in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır. Since the coup, some 130 media outlets have been closed and around 150 journalists jailed.

Under the decrees, Turkey will also recruit 32,000 staff for the police, along with 4,000 judges and prosecutors.