Turkey has already sent a 52-member police team, consisting of inspectors, chief inspectors and heads of police departments to serve as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the UN peacekeeping department's civilian police management coordinator from Turkey, Ata Yenigün, said and added that Turkey was now planning to send up to 160 police officers.
Ann-Marie Orler, the newly appointed police adviser in the department of peacekeeping operations, said Turkey, for the first time, had pledged to contribute riot police to MINUSTAH, during her speech at the UN headquarters on March 8.
Speaking about the extrajudicial killing of looters and escaped prisoners by peacekeepers, Orler said the UN has no executive mandate to make arrests and that member states, including Turkey, will contribute to the police force in Haiti. She also added that the priority now was to find French-speaking personnel.
The committee that Turkey sent to Haiti to prepare the logistics for the incoming Turkish police officers was expected to return home on Tuesday, Yenigün said. Along with security, Yenigün said, Turkish police forces will also assist with food distribution and other activities. Rwanda, Italy, France and Bangladesh are the leading countries in sending police assistance to Haiti.
Turkey has provided a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Yenigün said and riot police will also provide security for the hospital. Yenigün also stressed that this would be the first time that Turkish riot police have served abroad.
