Swoboda says feels cheated by Turkey's AK Party

Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the second largest group in the European Parliament (EP), has said he felt cheated by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after it changed the law on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) in the wake of a corruption investigation which became public on Dec. 17.

The chairman of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats said he supported the Sept. 12, 2010 constitutional referendum in Turkey which consolidated democracy and restructured the judiciary but felt cheated after the AK Party changed the law again after just three years. The law was amended in 2010 with the support of the EU including the EP and the Council of Europe.

Speaking on “Avrupa Masası” (Europe Desk), a TV program that airs on Samanyolu Haber, and hosted by Today's Zaman's Brussels representative, Selçuk Gültaşlı, the veteran Austrian politician, who has long supported the AK Party's EU-oriented reforms, raised strong criticisms against the government, in particular its policies in the wake of Dec. 17.

Stressing that he was very concerned about the rule of law, the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary, Swoboda said they are constantly receiving news about new legal initiatives that are undermining the freedoms of Turks.

He noted he had supported the constitutional amendments back in 2010 despite receiving criticisms from sister party the Republican People's Party (CHP), adding the AK Party has now decided the HSYK has become “too independent” and should be changed again.

Swoboda said he was most concerned about the change in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “When he became prime minister, Erdoğan was a reformist who was trying to integrate his country with the world and Europe. But now he is doing just the opposite. He is taking his country back,” he said.
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Referring to EU Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's implication that members of the EP were criticizing developments in Turkey because they had an arrangement with a “parallel structure,” Swoboda said the government always offers various excuses when it is not happy with any sort of criticism.

When asked whether he was convinced by the government's now-famous theory of a “parallel structure” to explain all the corruption charges, Swoboda said he was not persuaded at all. Drawing attention to Erdoğan's contradictions, the Socialist leader said the prime minister was, on the one hand, claiming he was defending fundamental rights and freedoms but on the other was banning Twitter and YouTube.

Swoboda said Turkey was increasingly isolating itself from the world and has significantly lost its role model status among Arab Spring countries. Stating that Turkey was growing further away from the EU and the Copenhagen Criteria, Swoboda said he frequently visits the Middle East and Turkey is no longer mentioned as a model.

“Instead, it is now the Tunisian model. People talk about Tunisia,” he said. According to the Socialist leader, despite the fact that Erdoğan was elected by popular vote, he is bringing Turkey to an authoritarian style of governance.

More convinced now PM used Hizmet to backtrack on reforms

In his meeting with Erdoğan on Jan. 21 in Brussels, Swoboda had reportedly told the Turkish leader that he was using the Hizmet movement to backtrack on reforms. When asked if he still held the same opinion, Swoboda said he absolutely feels the same way and his conviction has become even stronger.

Criticizing Erdoğan's rhetoric against the Hizmet movement, Swoboda said his style was “neither European nor democratic” and he was very surprised to witness such a rhetoric being used by the prime minister, who had himself criticized the opposition's polarizing attitude for years.

Swoboda also criticized the European Union for not being more forthcoming vis-à-vis Turkey and in particular refusing to open chapters 23 and 24 on fundamental rights and freedoms.

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