Turkey's Contradictive Security Bill Sent Back To Committee

- The Turkish government drew back remainin part of its contradictive homeland security bill to parliamentry a committee for further revision, after strong protests from the opposition parties.

Total 68 articles of the 130-clause security bill have already been approved by parliament. The remaining 63 articles in the bill has been sent to a parliamentary committee before further debate.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) pushed to pass the articles o the bill during night sessions, which repeatedly descended into punch-ups between lawmakers, which has a majority in parliament allowing it to push legislation through.

Opponents fear that the bill, which the government says is necessary for the security of citizens during protests, will turn Turkey into a virtual police state with the police given sweeping new powers to arrest and even fire on protesters.

The withdrawal of the remaining articles of the bill could be a concession to the opposition People's Democratic Party (HDP) which vehemently opposed the bill but is negotiating with the government over an end to the three decade armed separatist Kurdish insurgency.

Expectations are growing of a major breakthrough in the peace process ahead of the Kurdish New Year on March 21 and the government may not want to risk the fragile talks for the sake of the bill.