• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, May 20, 2022
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Turkey Introduces Neighborhood Watches In Istanbul Amid Controversy

Abdullah Ayasun by Abdullah Ayasun
08/14/17
in Featured, Middle East
neighborhood watches. Istanbul, Turkey, police

Istanbul's new neighborhood watches, in their newly designed uniforms, listen to Istanbul Police Chief during a ceremony.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In a new government project launched during the state of emergency, 386 neighborhood watches will begin on Monday to scout streets and their neighborhood during nights to provide security in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.

Turkish media released photos of newly graduated cadets who received training by police. The new project has sparked ongoing political controversy over the true nature and scope of neighborhood watches’ mission.

The opposition harbors genuine doubts over the new force in neighborhoods and accuses the government of building its own force for political purposes.

The policy was not without precedents. During the 1960s and 1970s when rapid economic progress and urbanization saw millions of people moving to cities from rural areas in mass internal migration waves, city administrations set up a similar mechanism to provide security during nights against crime and burglary.

Hundreds of thousands of newcomers formed shanty neighborhoods on the outskirts of Istanbul, and sometimes built new residential areas adjacent to affluent districts, thus exposing vivid socio-economic disparity among social classes. The neighborhood watches later were tasked with deterring possible break-ins and burglaries.

The practice lasted longer in several parts of Anatolia, while deadly political violence gripped metropolitan cities in the late 1970s, contributing to the termination of the watch system.

What forms the core of the opposition’s anxiety is the authority and power given to new people who will serve as citizen guards in neighborhoods.

During a ceremony to celebrate the first graduates on Saturday, Istanbul Police Chief Mustafa Caliskan appeared to be encouraging new guards, or watches, to use their guns when they deem it necessary.

“Do not hesitate to use your guns,” the police chief said, “in cases when your rights allow you to do so.”

At least 8,320 volunteers applied to Istanbul Police Department for limited numbers of posts in February when the government first launched the program. In May, it took an official form, with the government’s decree was published in Official Gazette.

Of those applications, the police department only accepted 700 of them. In the first phase, 386 candidates completed their training that included close combat techniques by Police Special Forces, use of firearms and other types of training normally given to Turkey’s police force. On Monday night, they will begin to work in neighborhoods.

Police Chief Caliskan said Istanbul was chosen as a city to test the adequacy and functionality of the program. He called the guards as “Night Eagles,” and pledged to work to make the “Night Eagles” eagerly embraced by the society.

ShareTweet
Abdullah Ayasun

Abdullah Ayasun

Staff Writer

Related Posts

The Club Netflix
Lifestyle

Netflix Series Helps Heal Wounds of Turkey’s Jews

by Staff Writer
March 19, 2022
AFP photographer arrested
Media Freedom

Turkish Reporters Demand Protection After Violent Arrest

by Staff Writer
June 29, 2021
Erdogan Threatens to Open Europe Gates for Refugees
Featured

Turkey’s Latest Crackdown Spells Dangerous New Normal for Human Rights Defenders

by Anders L. Pettersson
October 26, 2021
Turkish lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu reacts after being expelled from his post.
World

Turkey Detains Dozens of Pro-Kurdish Party Officials

by Staff Writer
March 19, 2021
The EU's corruption watchdog has been investigating Frontex.
Refugees

EU’s Frontex Says ‘No Evidence’ of Illegal Migrant Pushbacks

by Staff Writer
January 21, 2021
Veteran journalist Can Dundar fled to Germany after he was released pending trial.
Media Freedom

Turkish Court Sentences Exiled Journalist Dundar to 27 Years in Prison

by Staff Writer
December 23, 2020
Next Post
stephen miller white nationalism

America’s Birmingham Moment

Dreamers, DACA, American Dream, Trump

Dreamers Deserve Our Attention And Respect

Recommended

Volkswagen logo

German Farmer Sues Volkswagen Over CO2 Emissions

May 20, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Russia Says Economy Grew 3.5 Percent in First Quarter

May 18, 2022
Mexico missing people

Over 100,000 People Reported Missing in Mexico, Data Reveals

May 17, 2022
Shireen Abu Akleh

Jerusalem Archbishop Condemns Israeli Police Raid at Journalist’s Funeral

May 16, 2022
A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
Israel

15 European Nations Urge Israel to Reverse Plans for More Settler Homes

May 13, 2022

Opinion

A Lebanese election official stands at a polling station

New Group Threatens Lebanese Elections… and Potentially Middle East Peace

May 18, 2022
A man holding a gun

Safely Back in USA, Land of Guns and Burgers

May 2, 2022
China Muslim Uyghurs

Unfair Politicization, Corruption, and the Death of Modern Olympism

April 23, 2022
Ukraine war

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

April 20, 2022
Chinese leader Xi Jinping

How Wrong ‘How China Can End the War in Ukraine’ Is

April 1, 2022
Ukraine children

The War for Ukraine’s Lives and Minds

March 30, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post