April 11, 2014

Duff not convinced by Çavuşoğlu's response in 'parallel structure' row

Andrew Duff, a senior member of the European Parliament (EP), indicated on Friday that he is not satisfied with European Union Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's reassurances that he did not accuse him of "being bought" by the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Duff confronted Çavuşoğlu during a meeting of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee on Thursday over his remarks suggesting that the Liberal politician had some sort of arrangement with the Hizmet movement that "makes" him make critical statements about the Turkish government and suggest that Turkey's EU accession negotiations may be suspended.

“Turk EU Minister @MevlutCavusoglu accuses me of being bought by Gülen. Doubtless he can substantiate that later,” Duff tweeted during discussions of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting. He said Çavuşoğlu should either substantiate his claim or apologize. Çavuşoğlu refused to apologize, and responded by saying his statement had been "misrepresented" and advised Duff to change his sources with reliable ones and not give credit to “liars” who reported his remarks.

Asked in an interview with Hürriyet Daily News on Friday whether he was convinced by Çavuşoğlu's explanation, Duff said: "Not really. We are checking the translation of the transcript of the interview carefully. He could have apologized, but chose not to." He added, "The accusation that an MEP [Member of European Parliament] has been 'made to say' things is a serious one."

The British politician also played down the prospect of a miscommunication over the issue. “I think Mr. Minister faithfully reflects the attitude of his prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] in casting a slur on me and on the European Parliament as having become an instrument of the ‘parallel structure' of the Gülen movement,” he stated.

In a surprising remark on April 2, Çavuşoğlu said that if the EU were to freeze accession negotiations with Turkey, it would demonstrate that the EU is controlled by the so-called "parallel structure,” a term frequently used by government officials about the Hizmet movement.

Responding to a question from a reporter at the Cihan news agency, which is affiliated with the Hizmet movement, Çavuşoğlu replied: “You play the song and dance to it. You have done this before. You have made some Liberal deputies [in the European Parliament] with whom you had a prior arrangement say these things. You made Andrew Duff say it,” he said, addressing members of the so-called parallel structure.

Duff also said: “He repeated his claim that I only speak for myself and represent nobody else in questioning the continuation of the 'accession process.' I leave it to you to judge whether he is right.”

'First Christian Gülenist'

Duff mocked the accusation that he is linked with the Gülen movement by saying he is "the first Christian Gülenist" and that he is "still waiting to see my fee paid from Pennsylvania into my bank account."

He also underlined that Turkish ministers lash out at the Hizmet movement frequently at home, yet do not mention it in their dealings with European officials. "I find it odd that the AKP [Justice and Development Party] ministers are obsessed with beating up Hizmet when in Turkey, but scarcely dare to mention Gülen at all when they come to Brussels. They must know they seem to us to be incredible in the allegations they make about the power and reach of the Gülen movement," he said. "Everyone knows of the primitive political tactic of creating a false enemy when things at home are going not so well."

Published on Today's Zaman, 11 April 2014, Friday

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