CHP asks top court to cancel amendment sparing top spy of alleged terror probe

ANKARA (A.A) - February 22, 2012 - Main opposition party in Turkey has appealed to a top court for the annulment of a legislation that seeks prime minister's clearance to probe the country's intelligence officers for crimes they might have committed due to the nature of their jobs. The Republican People's Party, or CHP, submitted a petition Wednesday to the Constitutional Court for the annulment of the law, saying it was an open violation of at least seven articles of the Constitution. The Justice and Development (AK) Party government introduced the law and the Turkish president swiftly ratified it after a Turkish prosecutor ordered the country's top intelligence officer, Hakan Fidan, to testify in a probe over an alleged urban wing of the terrorist PKK organization. Fidan, head of the National Intelligence Organization, or MIT, along with a former MIT chief and a deputy, were summoned for questioning over secret talks held with the PKK.   A voice recording was leaked to press in 2011 that allegedly put Fidan in attendance of the Oslo meeting with PKK as the "special envoy" of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  Fidan was serving as a deputy undersecretary at the Prime Ministry back then, and he had not yet been appointed to lead MIT. The prosecutor of the KCK probe was recently removed from office on the charges of abusing his powers pending an investigation by Turkey's High Board of Judges and Prosecutors.