Commentaries
Güven Sak, PhD - [Archive]
Protesters are the patrons of the police 28/12/2012 - Viewed 2445 times
I believe that the attitude of the police towards protesters is one of the most critical stages of their mental transformation.
So what happened at Middle East Technical University (METU)? Exactly what happened during the October 29th Republic Day ceremonies in Ankara, if you ask me. Thousands of police officers failed to control a few hundreds of students with democratic practices. Visiting METU for the launch ceremony of the first Turkish satellite, Göktürk-2, prime minister Erdoğan was protested by a group of students, as always.
The same thing happened not long ago, as you might remember. Also at that time, the police failed to control the protesters using the methods that are the norm in civilized countries. They started throwing whatever they could find at the protestors. Lately, I have started thinking what type of in-service training activity should be designed for the police department.
The saddest part was that in all the fuss, we were unable to take the opportunity to brag and say, “Turkey has engineers who know how to design.” I listened to the course of events from METU Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Acar. I believed him without a doubt. Therefore, I think that we have to make sure that the METU incident will be a milestone for the democratic oversight of the police department in Turkey. We face police violence on all occasions. The police department again failed to control about 200 students demonstrating in a non-violent manner on a campus of 25,000 people, without storming the campus with tear gas bombs. So, the major lesson for here is simply that, “The enhancement of the security sector in accordance with the latest technological developments, i.e. its modernization, should not be limited to its physical aspects. Physical modernization should be paired with the mental modernization of ideas and mentalities.”
The above passage on the mental modernization of the security forces was cited from a recent study by TESEV. The study, titled “Security Sector Governance: Turkey and Europe,” was edited by Prof. Dr. Ümit Cizre and Prof. Dr. İbrahim Cerrah. The passage was cited from the chapter authored by Prof. Cerrah, who also is a faculty member at the Police Academy in Ankara. I acknowledge that the police perform services and that they have to abide by the civil authority when performing these services. I also acknowledge that the police serve for the happiness of the people. However, I believe that their attitude towards protesters is one of the most critical stages of the mental transformation of the police. The police have to understand that the protesters are their patrons. This idea should be engraved in the minds of all of the members of the police department.
The share of the police department in 2013 budget is around 16 billion TL, compared to 20 billion TL of the armed forces.
Concerning protests and demonstrations, there are three reasons for allocating funds for the police department. First, peaceful protesters have the right to express their ideas freely. They have a share in the funds allocated for the police department.
Even if they are few in number, demonstrators have the right to carry out their protests under protection. Second, people who did not participate in demonstrations must be affected at the minimum level possible. Third, the police forces should make sure that malignant and non-peaceful people do not mingle in with protestors and disturb both of the parties.
Recently, a friend of mine said that “the Police Colleges are located out of the city center. When students leave for their weekend break, we advise them to keep together and not to mingle with other people.” The same goes on at the police academies as well. When they graduate and begin active duty, however, we want them to be involved with the people. This is not easy, as we observe. Mental transformation is not an overnight task.
This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 28.12.2012
