European Union Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has dismissed the prospect that Turkey's accession talks with the European Union might be suspended, saying on Wednesday that if the EU freezes the negotiations, this will demonstrate that the EU is controlled by the so-called "parallel structure."
He said there is no reason for the EU to shelve negotiations while Turkey is engaged in a democratic fight against the parallel structure.
“A suspension of talks would mean the EU is controlled by the parallel structure and defends that structure. EU will not do this and we will not believe this would be the case" Çavuşoğlu said.
He claimed critical statements coming from EU in the wake of local elections and December the 17th was the work of parallel structure without naming it specifically. "You play yourself and you dance yourself. You did this before. You made some Liberal deputies say these things whom you have set them up. You made Andrew Duff say it." he said. Andrew Duff is a British Liberal member of the European Parliament who closely follows in Turkey and has been a seasoned commentator on the developments in the country.
The government has claimed to be fighting a “parallel structure,” a veiled reference to members of the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who claims that the Hizmet movement is responsible for the Dec. 17, 2013 corruption probe, has been ratcheting up his rhetoric.
Speaking about international criticisms that Erdoğan has adopted discriminatory rhetoric, especially in his speech after the March 30 local elections, Çavuşoğlu said some foreign politicians are forced to make such fabricated claims. He noted that such isolated quotes are presented as though they were the view of all of Europe.
Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) Secretary-General Andreas Scheuer called on the EU to halt accession talks with Turkey on the grounds that Erdoğan's Turkey does not belong in Europe, a major German regional daily reported on Tuesday.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Faruk Loğoğlu, deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), criticized Çavuşoğlu for his remarks, calling them "far from serious."
"Such arguments are an insult to the intelligence of the entire EU, EU institutions and everyone in the EU [apparatus]," he said on the sidelines of a panel on the Turkish local elections, organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) and the European Policy Center (EPC).
Çavuşoğlu also criticized a report published in The New York Times on March 30. The article said: “Mr. Erdoğan's decade-plus grip on power has been weakened by anti-government protests, corruption allegations, and an ugly confrontation with the powerful and admired Muslim religious leader Fethullah Gülen. In a desperate effort to prevent any further hemorrhaging of his power, Mr. Erdoğan has abandoned the ambitious foreign policy that was the basis for Turkey's regional resurgence in recent years and has resorted to attacking his enemies.”
According to the article, Erdoğan will have to accept that his increased aggression is resulting in the isolation of Turkey. “When it comes to regional issues like Egypt, Iran and Iraq, the United States has now largely marginalized Turkey,” the article read.
“The press is free to write anything. Sometimes the articles can be manipulative, but just one article published in the US does not represent the view of the whole country,” he noted. Çavuşoğlu also said the views of just one member of the European Parliament (EP) do not stand for the 28 EU nations either.
The European Union has raised criticisms about the Turkish government's recent legal regulations and bans on social media, which violate the union's core values, including the separation of powers, the rule of law and freedom of speech. The Turkish government blocked access to popular video sharing platform YouTube last week, hours after a leaked voice recording allegedly featuring the voices of Turkey's foreign minister, intelligence chief and a top army general discussing a possible intervention in neighboring war-torn Syria was uploaded onto the site. The ban came a week after Twitter was also blocked.
Published on Today's Zaman, 04 April 2014, Friday
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