New state agency to gather all counterterrorism intelligence under one roof

A new state agency to coordinate the counterterrorism efforts of various security forces will also gather all intelligence collected by different agencies in a single place, Interior Minister Besir Atalay told a press conference in Ankara yesterday. Atalay said the new agency would be called the Undersecretariat for Public Order and Safety, adding that it would enable the state to gather all intelligence information from different security units under one roof. Explaining that the undersecretariat will offer policy alternatives to decision-makers by analyzing security policy, Atalay said that the new unit would have no operational functionality. Stating that the new agency will have a "human focus" in its counterterrorism policy, Atalay said Turkey needs strategy alternatives for its decision-makers and that this could be supplied by research into every aspect of terrorism, including its social and psychological dimensions. Atalay also stressed that the government's counterterrorism efforts would be in sync with democracy, adding that they would not sacrifice democracy to terrorism. A bill to set up the new agency has already been sent to Parliament.