As Expected
As I expected, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly has given its full support to ‘to a resolution slamming the closure case against the government and calling on the monitoring committee “to seriously consider, if need be, re-opening the monitoring status for Turkey.” The resolution was adopted after a fierce debate, in which the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and European delegates together attacked the Constitutional Court.’
”All institutions in member states are bound by political obligations, commitments and principles of the Council of Europe. Taking into account the separation of the juridical and the political powers, we must underline that the judicial authorities also have to respect these standards and principles and act accordingly,” said the resolution.
The drafter of the resolution, Luc Van den Brande, said it sends a signal to Turkey and member states that they have to accept common standards. He decried the closure case, which he said reflects an arbitratrian approach by the court. �That is a reason why Turkey is still under post monitoring. The same attitude is also towards Kurdish parties. The 1982 constitution belongs to the 1980 military court. [Turkey] has to go to a new constitution. The remaining problem, the first three articles of the Constitution, are not even open for discussion in a democratic way,� he said.
Andreas Gross, a Swiss delegate speaking on behalf of the Socialist group, gave his full support to the resolution and commented on the upcoming decision of Turkey’s top court on the closure case. �What if the Constitutional Court exceeds its powers? What if it gathers crowds on the street? A judicial coup transforming to a military coup. In Turkey, the state wants power over religion, and this is a false claim to power,� he argued.
René van der Linden said if the party is closed it will mean a judicial coup. �How can the European Union negotiate with a country that bans a party with such a large vote?� he asked, noting that the European People’s Party, or EPP, fully supported the resolution. Anna Benaki, of the EPP, argued the closure case is a struggle between powers and has no legal basis.
And so on and so further.
As said, Turks should happily ignore this rhetoric. What’s most troubling about it all is that Europe is putting pressure like this on Turkey’s highest court. If this was a Western European court, not on politician would say anything about the case; the judges haven’t decided about it yet.
This proves, once again, that Europe uses one standard for ‘normal’ European countries, and another one for Turkey. When talking about Turkey, no rules about normal conduct exist.
Ludicrous.
What’s more hilarious is that the AKP is doing its best to get Europe to slam secularists. Time and again. The AKP, a Turkish party, is basically using foreigners and foreign governments to pursue its own agenda. That may seem like a smart choice to them, but they seem to forget that most Turks aren’t terribly fond of foreign governments telling them what to do. The reason for that distrust is, of course, that Turks remember all too well that it is only 100 years ago that Western Powers tried to divide the lands that’s now part of the Republic of Turkey between themselves.
The AKP is, then, traveling a dangerous course; it’s using foreigners to fight its war for it. That’s dangerous; it will increase tensions even more. Those of us who thought that the Justice and Development Party would become more moderate, are disappointed; they’re only becoming more extreme, willing to side with people who do not care Turkey at all as long as they can hang on to power.
As is more usual these days, moderation comes not from the AKP but from the MHP: “The Constitutional Court can deal with this professionally. Every country has set up institutions according to their own historical sensitivities. In Europe, [these are] Fascism or Nazism, in Turkey it is any potential threat to the secular democratic order,” Ertuğrul Kumcuoğlu of the Nationalist Movement Party said.
“We do not want the closure of the AKP. However, we believe that putting pressure on the judiciary will be counter-productive. I cannot help wonder whether this is the true aim of the rapporteur and his close associates in Ankara.”
Quite right.
admin: personal attacks deleted
So what kind of game is the EU playing?
Recent surveys make clear that the more the EU criticizes the closure case the more Turks become suspicious of the EU and the AKP, and the more they support closure.
Is the EU so stupid as to think that merely because they pass these resolutions the Turkish Supreme Court will submissively bow to the EU Parliament and throw closure case out?
Or, is the EU smart enough to know that if they continue to vociferously criticize the Turkish judicial system and slander those who believe in secular democracy (don’t Europeans believe in secular democracy?) that the AKP is sure to be condemned? Thus giving the EU a "concrete" (as opposed to ethnically biased/racist) reason to finally reject Turkey’s application to become a member of the EU?
And what will the EU do when it can no longer pull puppet strings and have the Turkish government jump at its every whim?
The biggest reason AKP leaders oppose the closure case is because, once kicked out of office, they will lose immunity from prosecution for all of the economic crimes they committed while in office–sadly though, all the money they earned in bribes and stole from the Turkish people will probably never be repaid.
"The AKP, a Turkish party, is basically using foreigners and foreign governments to pursue its own agenda."
From Ataturk’s speech to Turkey’s youth (what an amazing visionary and how prescient of him):
Youth of Turkey,
Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic forever. These are the mainstay of your existence and your future.
… In the future, there may be malevolent people at home and abroad who will want to deprive you of this treasure. … Sadder and graver still, those in power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may unite their personal interests with the invaders’ political designs. ….
______________________________
Oh yeah, Ataturk understood European leaders very well … and, in the past 95 years, very little has changed.
Kemal, well said….
…those in power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may unite their personal interests with the invaders’ political designs. ….
It seems to me that this refers to Turks more than Europeans, Ataturk had indeed understood the mentality of the Turkish leadership quite well.
Has much changed in the past 95 years? If it has, it’s only skin deep.
Good try John, but you clearly don’t understand what it was that Ataturk was saying. Weak leaders are easily manipulated by Western powers, who bend and twist them to suit their needs.
That is what was done to the Ottoman rulers throughout the 19th Century. European countires and Russia interfered in internal Ottoman affairs, using both politicial and military force, as well as insurgents.
Now, Turkey has the AKP, which is a party that came out of no where fully funded, but ostensibly finding support among the "poor" and so-called "new" middle class. How does a party amass millions of dollars of support from the poor and the middle class before it is even elected?
Now, Europe is interfering once again in Turkey’s internal affairs. They, and Armenia, while on the one hand condemning them as terrorists, support the PKK’s separatist aims. Why? The oil reserves in Kirkuk and Mosul.
The PKK is using U.S. supplied weapons to kill Turks, yet the U.S. and Europe won’t allow the Turkish military to route out these murderous bands, who, by the way, kill mostly Turkish Kurds living in southeastern Turkey who don’t support them.
European interference has not done much for the people of Anatolia, or the people of Africa, for that matter.
Go and ask a few Iraqis if they prefer the instability and terror wrought by the U.S. invasion over the oppression of Sadam Hussein. In light of the constant bombing attacks, the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who’ve died, the spectacle of Abu Graib, the torture of prisoners denied due process in Guantanamo, and the millions of educated Iraqis with the means to flee who have fled the country, likely the evil oppression of Sadam (installed by the U.S. too) was preferable. At least under Sadam, they had running water, sanitation, some public services and knew they could leave their homes and return without being killed by some anonymous bomber.
Ataturk understood the mentality of European and U.S. leaders quite well (he also was adamantly against a U.S. mandate over Turkey after WWI because he didn’t trust them either).