MALATYA, Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended a highly debated security bill, saying opposing it would be similar to criticizing the fight against terrorism, in eastern province of Malatya addressing a mass.
A domestic security package, which was presented to parliament by the government this week, aims to provide enhanced powers to police.
"I think objecting a bill as part of measures taken against a terrorist organization is opposing counter-terrorism," said Erdogan, at an inaugural ceremony in Malatya.
A tense atmosphere surrounded the discussions over the bill, as the parliament saw two brawls between MPs, which left several injured.
The security bill was devised following extensive rioting in Turkey in autumn. Protests in Turkey's southeastern provinces in October 2014 over the believed lack of involvement from Turkish authorities following Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's attack on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, resulted in 40 deaths.
The government sees the measures brought by the bill as compliant with EU norms, while opposition parties reject it outright, saying it would erode freedoms and rights in the country.
Opposition parties pledged that they would not allow this bill to pass, but they can only delay it until March, when the parliament takes break ahead of the June 7 general elections.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that the bill would pass "one way or another" despite opposition parties' delaying tactics.
Pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party, or HDP, which is currently in talks with the government over what is known as the "solution process," have said the adoption of the bill would undermine ongoing negotiations to settle the Kurdish conflict.
The pro-Kurdish party's leader Selahattin Demirtas described the security measures package as an "oppression bill" Friday.
The "solution process" refers to the efforts by the Turkish government, launched in 2013, to end the decades-old conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, in the country's eastern and southeastern regions, which killed tens of thousands of people.
Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union list PKK as a terrorist organization.
