{"id":2226,"date":"2017-06-20T09:24:54","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T09:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/new\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2017-07-13T09:21:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T09:21:16","slug":"turkey-erdogans-promised-reforms-by-burak-bekdil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/2017\/06\/20\/turkey-erdogans-promised-reforms-by-burak-bekdil\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey: Erdogan&#8217;s Promised &#8220;Reforms&#8221;  by Burak Bekdil"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<ul class=\"content_preface_bullets\">\n<li>In third world democracies such as Turkey, there is a vast gap between what laws say and how they are enforced.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;As many as 2,000 individuals &#8212; reporters, celebrities, academics and students &#8212; are reportedly being officially investigated on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or spreading &#8216;terrorist propaganda.'&#8221; \u2014 &#8220;Reporters Without Borders&#8221; Report.\n<ul>\n<li>\n<hr id=\"system-readmore\" class=\"mceItemReadMore\" \/>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The EU must understand that it has too little, if any, leverage on a country that is going full speed toward darker days of Islamist authoritarianism.<\/li>\n<li>With or without legal amendments to its anti-terror laws or a deal with the EU, Erdogan&#8217;s Turkey will de facto follow the path of Islamist autocracies, where any kind of dissent amounts to terrorism and treason.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"itemprop_articlebody\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p>Turkey and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating a deal that ostensibly would stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants into Europe; Turkey, on its part, would bring dozens of laws and regulations, including its draconian anti-terror laws, in line with Europe&#8217;s; and nearly 80 million Turks would then be given visa-free travel to the EU&#8217;s borderless Schengen zone. But now, as Turkey refuses to amend its anti-terror laws, the deal seems to be facing a stalemate.<\/p>\n<p>That is hardly the heart of the matter. In reality, both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the EU are pursuing a deal that will not work.<\/p>\n<p>In theory, Turkey would complete some tough homework, containing a list of 72 items. All went well until recently, when apparently the most controversial item on the list, which obliged Turkey to change its anti-terror laws, stalled the deal.<\/p>\n<p>On May 14, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/expert-level-talks-ongoing-in-brussels-to-overcome-terror-impasse-with-turkey-eu-envoy.aspx?pageID=238&amp;nID=99141&amp;NewsCatID=510\" target=\"_blank\">according to Hansj\u00f6rg Haber<\/a>, the EU&#8217;s top envoy in Ankara, the European Commission was still working to find an acceptable solution to the impasse with Turkey over the definition of &#8220;terror.&#8221; Haber commented that &#8220;Turkey has long been mature for visa liberalization. I personally feel we had to do it much long ago. I still remain optimistic that we will eventually manage it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Days before that, Turkey&#8217;s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that he had no intention of changing the disputed legislation. In response, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the visa requirement would not be lifted for Turks before all criteria were met. That, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyetdailynews.com\/expert-level-talks-ongoing-in-brussels-to-overcome-terror-impasse-with-turkey-eu-envoy.aspx?pageID=238&amp;nID=99141&amp;NewsCatID=510\" target=\"_blank\">Erdogan&#8217;s words<\/a>, would mean &#8220;you go your way and we go ours.&#8221;<\/p>\n<table class=\"mceItemTable\" style=\"margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 600px;\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"max-width: 600px; border: 1px solid black;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/pics\/1608.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"396\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 82%; margin: 4px 6px;\">European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (right) said that the visa requirement would not be lifted for Turks before all criteria in the EU-Turkey deal were met. That, in the words of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), would mean &#8220;you go your way and we go ours.&#8221; (Image source: Turkish President&#8217;s Office)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Erdogan, for his part, wants to win the visa waiver in order to save millions of Turks from the torment of queuing up in front of European countries&#8217; embassies for visas &#8212; undoubtedly a big vote-winner for him if he puts to a referendum the executive presidential system he so desperately craves.<\/p>\n<p>The EU&#8217;s leaders aim at a skillful balancing act: Return tens of thousands of future migrants to Turkey &#8212; as stipulated in the accord &#8212; and at the same time find a face-saving formula against criticism that to stop the flow of migrants, the European club is granting a totally undemocratic country what it wants. So, a little bit of pressure for a better-looking Turkish anti-terror law could help Brussels save face: We are not betraying our democratic culture merely to stop the migrant inflow; see how we forced Turkey to liberalize a key law!<\/p>\n<p>That will be a commodity too hard to sell. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Turkey witnessed a drop in press freedom during the past year, as a result of a media crackdown that one prominent editor called a &#8220;witch-hunt.&#8221; In its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/content\/media-monitors-report-decline-in-global-press-freedom\/3312922.html\" target=\"_blank\">latest report<\/a>, RSF ranked Turkey 151 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index, down two points since 2015. It said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;As many as 2,000 individuals \u2013 reporters, celebrities, academics and students \u2013 are reportedly being officially investigated on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or spreading &#8216;terrorist propaganda.'&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Erdogan&#8217;s deep problem with free speech is not only limited to Turkey. It recently moved, ironically, into the heart of Europe. Erdogan sought and won &#8212; from Germany&#8217;s Chancellor, Angela Merkel &#8212; a green light for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gatestoneinstitute.org\/7878\/german-satire-erdogan\" target=\"_blank\">prosecution of comedian Jan B\u00f6hmermann<\/a>, who recited a crude poem about the Turkish president, on German television.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.welt.de\/debatte\/kommentare\/article154171281\/Solidaritaet-mit-Jan-Boehmermann.html\" target=\"_blank\">letter<\/a> published in the German daily <i>Welt am Sonntag<\/i>, Mathias D\u00f6pfner, chief executive of the German publisher Axel Springer, expressed solidarity with B\u00f6hmermann by saying he had laughed out loud at the poem and &#8216;wholeheartedly&#8217; supported what B\u00f6hmermann said. Erdogan&#8217;s lawyers sued D\u00f6pfner too. A German court <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/court-rejects-erdogans-injunction-against-axel-springer-ceo\/a-19247873\" target=\"_blank\">rejected Erdogan&#8217;s injunction<\/a> against D\u00f6pfner, but Erdogan&#8217;s lawyers <a href=\"http:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/worldNews\/idAFKCN0Y21SJ\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> they would appeal that decision. This is the man the EU is, presumably, trying to convince that his country&#8217;s anti-terror laws should be given a more democratic touch if he wants visa liberalization for the Turks.<\/p>\n<p>The EU must understand &#8212; or maybe it already has, but too late &#8212; that it has too little, if any, leverage on a country that is going full speed toward darker days of Islamist authoritarianism. If they are not trying to fool a European population of more than 500 million with a too-cheap pragmatism, they should understand that in third world democracies such as Turkey, there is a vast gap between what laws say and how they are enforced.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a nice assortment of what the <a href=\"http:\/\/global.tbmm.gov.tr\/docs\/constitution_en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Turkish constitution<\/a> says about civil rights and abuse of religion in politics, in contrast with how real life in Erdogan&#8217;s Turkey is about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Article 5, for example, promises &#8220;to ensure the welfare, peace and happiness of the individual and society (and) to strive for the removal of (obstacles) which restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms.&#8221; Not funny enough?<\/li>\n<li>Take Article 10, then: &#8220;All individuals are equal before the law without any discrimination irrespective of language, race, color, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion and sect or any such consideration.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Article 20 states that &#8220;everyone has the right to demand respect for his private and family life.<\/li>\n<li>Article 22 guarantees that &#8220;secrecy of communications is fundamental.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>When read in 2016, Article 24 is probably one of the funniest in the whole charter: &#8220;Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religious belief and conviction &#8230; No one shall be allowed to exploit or abuse religion or religious feelings &#8230; for the purpose of personal or political influence, or for even partially basing the fundamental, social, economic, political and legal order of the State on religious tenets.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>It is not an awfully bad joke: <a href=\"https:\/\/global.tbmm.gov.tr\/docs\/constitution_en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Article 28<\/a> even claims &#8220;the press is free, and shall not be censored.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With or without legal amendments to its anti-terror laws or a deal with the EU, Erdogan&#8217;s Turkey will de facto follow the path of Islamist autocracies, where any kind of dissent amounts to terrorism and treason.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the H\u00fcrriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In third world democracies such as Turkey, there is a vast gap between what laws say and how they are enforced. &#8220;As many as 2,000 individuals &#8212; reporters, celebrities, academics and students &#8212; are reportedly being officially investigated on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or spreading &#8216;terrorist propaganda.&#8217;&#8221; \u2014 &#8220;Reporters Without Borders&#8221; Report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions\/2227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}