The Turkish cabinet adopted on Monday the bill on establishment of human rights agency. Turkey's State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Cemil Cicek said the Council of Ministers had adopted the bill on establishment of Turkish Human Rights Agency, The Journal of Turkish Weekly reports.

"We are establishing such an agency to preserve and improve human rights, monitor national and international human rights development, inform people and institutions about the issues concerning human rights, examine human rights complaints and prevent human rights violations," Cicek, who is also the government spokesman, told reporters after the Cabinet meeting in Ankara. Cicek said the agency would be independent which he defined as important for Turkey and the European Union (EU) membership process.

The Presidency of Human Rights was established in 2000 to improve human rights consciousness, protect human rights, investigate and examine human rights violations, as well as investigate and examine social, political, legal and administrative reasons which cause obstacles for the enjoyment of human rights and freedoms and develop proposals to solve them.