Protests have separated Turkey from Europe

Talks concerning the entrance of Turkey EU are suspended

The critical round of talks concerning Turkey’s entrance into the EU scheduled for yesterday has been delayed until the fall. In Brussels, they let it be known that they will “closely follow the observance of human rights and the freedom of assembly” in Turkey. The decision of the EU is in response to Ankara’s harsh suppression of the protests. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced, “Turkish democracy has again proved its might,” the violent actions of the authorities against demonstrators have resulted in colossal costs for the Prime Minister, as well as for the image of Turkey.

The criticism directed towards the Turkish prime minister by the EU has developed into practical steps that do not rule out the freezing of talks concerning the entrance of Turkey into the EU. Germany, the major European heavyweight, came out against their continuation. Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel said that what is going on in Turkey does not accord with the “European understanding of the freedom to conduct demonstrations and the freedom of speech.” Referring to the “the overly harsh actions of the police” in Istanbul, she blamed the Turkish leadership of serious violations of human rights.

In response, the Turkish minister of EU affairs Egemen Bağış warned that in criticizing Turkey, Ms. Merkel “risks repeating the errors of the former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy,” who deprived himself of the support of the Turkish diaspora and lost in elections. “Ms. Merkel should remember the 3.5 million Turks live in Germany, the majority of whom have the right to vote there,” reminded Mr. Bağış. The warnings of the minister received a hostile reception from the German leadership – the Turkish ambassador in Berlin was summoned to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In sum, the critical round of talks between Turkey and the EU that was supposed to start up on Wednesday has been delayed until the fall. Moreover, in Brussels they let it be known that they will “closely follow the observance of human rights and the freedom of assembly” in Turkey.

Not only the Turkish leadership’s European ambitions, but its Middle Eastern ones as well have been jeopardized. Only recently Prime Minister – Islamist Erdoğan was being hailed “the new leader of the Muslim world,” “the defender of Islam” and the Turkish model adopted in Arab countries as a unique and successful political project.

Over the course of the last two years Turkey remained an island of stability in the eyes of governments that experienced the “Arab Spring”. This helped Erdoğan gain acknowledgement from the moderate Islamist powers in the region. The Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi began to orient himself towards the Turkish model ın many respects. Rashid al-Ghannushi, the leader of the “Ennahda” party that won elections in Tunis in 2011, also declared that he had taken the Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) as an example. The Turkish model was also used with especial popularity in Morocco.

The public unrest into which the May Day demonstrations in Istanbul and Ankara flooded was enough to cause the leader of Tunis to announce that the Turkish model would no longer be adopted. The harsh suppression of youth protests provided an opportunity to accuse Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of double standards, taking into consideration the anger with which he criticized the “tyrannical” regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad.

The youth protests have exacerbated the contradictions between Mr. Erdoğan and his closest party allies. The main schism ıs notıceable in the Erdoğan-Gül tandem, which outwardly has worked harmoniously until now. In contrast to the prime minister, President Abdullah Gul during the first days of the protest was intent on dialogue with the demonstrators and avoiding an order to violently break up the demonstration. The prime minister was abroad at the time and upon returning harshly criticized the actions of the president. Experts do not rule out the possibility that the tandem has split and that the leaders, who will soon have to choose who will run for the presidential election in 2014, cannot agree among themselves. If that is the case, Erdoğan, a potential candidate from the ruling AKP, risks obtaining a serious competitor.

Another ally of Prime Minister Erdoğan, Vice President Bülent Arınç, holds the same position as President Gul. At a meeting of the cabinet last week, a heated discussion arose between him and Mr. Erdoğan revolving around the events on Taksim Square. This occurred after the prime minister stated that “any kind of concession with regards to the demonstrators is unacceptable.” The local media threw wood onto the fire, reporting that as a result of the meeting Mr. Arınç had resigned. He consequently denied these rumors. However, Turkish experts believe that the matter of the possible resignation has been decided, unless President Gül can persuade him not to leave the team.

“By means of a harsh reaction against the protest, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brought to naught the accomplishments of the eleven-year rule of his party and demonstrated that he cannot become the leader of the Turkish nation,” explained Hakan Güneş, Professor of Political Science at Marmara State University. According to the expert, now no one except the Middle Eastern allies of the prime minister in the persons of the leaders of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia feel sympathy towards the head of the Turkish government. “From Azerbaijan to Senegal, people sympathize with the demonstrators of Taksim and not with Erdoğan,” summarized the interlocutor with Kommersant.

Olga Kuznetsova, Kommersant

Дата добавления: 2015-07-10