No Records of National Defence Commission

Of all specialized committees in the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) the National Defence Commission is the only commission in that does not keep the minutes of its meetings. The Turkish people have no information on the issues discussed in the commission.

Record Office: We did not keep records because we were not required to

Turkish law does not provide an according legal regulation. bianet talked to officials from the Parliamentary Record Office: "We were sent a writing when each commission was established, saying that we should keep the referring minutes. We did not receive any request from the Defence Commission, so we did not keep the records", they said.

According to the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure, the only condition that justifies not to keep the minutes are "closed sessions" "agreed on to keep the matters discussed confidential". Article 33 regarding commission records says, "A full record is kept upon the decision of the commission".

Akyeşilmen: Records indispensable for transparency

Nezir Akyeşilmen, deputy supervisor and co-author of the "Security Sector and Democratic Surveillance" almanac published by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), points out that the record is important for "offering the service of research or applications in respect to legal problems that may arise later on".

However, neither is the record kept nor does any commission object to it. In the opinion of deputy supervisor Akyeşilmen, another question should be whether the members of parliament are aware at all of the fact that minutes are not kept.

According to Akyeşilmen it is an indicator of transparency to keep the record and make it available to the public. Otherwise, "we do not know what was discussed and doubts arise about even the most harmless issues".

Akay: Commission should be entitled of auditing

Hale Akay from Bilgi University, co-author of TESEV's report on the "Security Sector" remarks, "Records of all specialized commissions are available to us". This is not the case for the defence commission, which means that the perception of "defence issues being always confidential and not being disclosed to the public" is accepted and legitimated.

In the report it is mentioned that one of the amendments to prevent military tutelage refers to the National Defence Commission, saying that its records should be kept and published.

The only authority of the commission lies in the revision of draft laws handed down by the TBMM Presidency. The Defence Commission is not entitled to define the security budget, purchase weapons or shape security policies, i.e. the National Security Policy Document (MGSB) in particular.

Akay said that the commission should hold the authority of auditing:

"The commission receives expert opinion on draft laws. Many issues are being discussed in the commission until the draft law is actually reviewed according to the advice of the respectively allocated military officers".

"The Defence Commission cannot initiate an investigation into any topic within the army though. However, in other countries the commission is much more efficient. The commission should be able to discuss the defence spending".

"As in other countries, the commission could be counselling the defence industry, it could follow up tenders, it could audit problems related to the army and it could also take a role in conveying information between the Parliament and the army". (TK/VK)