The Turkish Parliament has approved a law on rights and freedoms - dubbed “democratization package” – first announced on September last year.
The law, the last major piece of legislation the Parliament passed before it closed on Sunday till 30 March elections, now awaits President Abdullah Gul’s approval.
Passed early Sunday morning, the democratization package allows education in mother tongue in private schools, and use of languages other than Turkish for political campaign. It also brings tougher penalties for hate crimes and amends political party organization.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the package on 30 September but the government decided to delay it due to the Parliament's busy schedule. The package was discussed at the General Assembly over the weekend.
According to the approved package, private schools are allowed to teach in languages other than Turkish, enabling local communities to have access to education in mother tongue.
The new law says that Turkish citizens can open private education institutions to provide education in languages and dialects they traditionally use in their daily lives, on the condition that the schools are subject to the provisions in the Private Educational Institutions Act and are inspected by the Ministry of National Education.
On hate crimes, the package stipulates that hate speech or acts related to language, race, nationality, color, gender, disability, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion or sectarian differences will be punished by up to three years in prison.
The law also allows former non-Turkish names of villages and neighborhoods to be reinstated.
Regarding political party organization and campaigning, parties and their members now have the right to campaign and use promotional material in any language or dialect.
Parties can apply for a co-chair system on the condition that the party has this system in their party's bylaws and that it does not have more than two co-chairs.
Furthermore, the state will provide financial aid to the political parties that receive more than three percent of the total number of valid votes in the parliamentary general elections and the respective aid will not be less than TL 1 million.
In addition, the law requires that mass gatherings and demonstrations held outdoors must end before sunset while gatherings held in enclosed areas can continue till midnight.
Security officers are allowed to record the images and voices of participants and speakers during mass gatherings. The recordings cannot be used for purposes other than to determine a crime or a criminal suspect.
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