The European Union has abandoned those who are defending freedom in Turkey

Written on March 21st, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on Voltairenet.org, by Can Dündar, March 19, 2016.

The editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar, who was recently freed from prison, published the op-ed column in Le Monde that we are reproducing here. He reveals the stakes of the agreement negotiated between the European Union and Turkey – not to have to assume the consequences of the deliberate destabilisation of Syria in exchange for 3 billion Euros per year and ignoring the dictatorship which is currently being set up by Ankara.

In September 2015, close to 3,000 Syrian refugees began a march toward Edirne, which is Turkey’s open door to Europe. Their objective was to cross the frontier and walk to Germany. Normally, the Turkish police forbids any form of meeting – even three people – but this time they simply watched as the long line of the 3,000 Syrian refugees shuffled by. At first we were unable to understand the reason for this show of tolerance, but very quickly, it became clear that it was a signal sent to Europe … //

… This dialogue demonstrates Mr. Erdogan’s patronising attitude, but the really tragic dialogue came later in the same meeting, between Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and the Turkish President. The Commission had twice postponed the publication of the report on the erosion of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms in Turkey.

It was a gift offered to Mr Erdogan, who was then preparing for the 1st November elections. In the accounts of the Antalya summit, we note that Mr. Juncker clearly recognised this, declaring: The postponement of this evaluation until after the elections was critical … //

… Turkish democrats have always proclaimed Western values – freedom, the supremacy of law, Human Rights, secularism. As for Mr. Erdogan, during an interview he accorded to journalist Nilgün Cerrahoglu in 1996, he declared: «Democracy is a tramway – you climb on to get where you want to go, and then you climb off.»

Today, twenty years later, it is with sadness that we must watch European leaders rushing towards the tramway from which Erdogan has just descended, abandoning beside the tracks all those in Turkey who adhere to these democratic values.

The West is sacrificing its historic principles for the profit of its daily interests, and as a result of this double game, is losing all its natural allies. By saying : «Keep those refugees away from us and do whatever you like at home», Europe is hiring a concentration camp outside of its own frontiers, and is closing its eyes to the oppression exerted by the willing guardian of the camp. This is not only a shameful thing for the West, it is also shameful for Humanity.

This is not a fight between the West and the East, nor a fight between Europe and Turkey, it’s a fight between those, whether in the West or the East, who believe in the freedom of the Press, in Human Rights, in Democracy, and those who trample on these freedoms. If these people are beaten, the losers will not only be the Democrats of Turkey, but all of those universal values like secularism, the equality between men and women, freedom of thought, and the independence of justice … //

… (full text).

Links:

Kurdish crackdown: Is Turkey at war with its minority? on RT, MArch 20, 2016; (more related articles);

Greece starts evacuation of 6,000 refugees from islands per EU deal, on RT, March 20, 2016;

Vet Goes On Hunger Strike After The State Took His Kids For Him Legally Using Cannabis For PTSD, on Activist Post, by Matt Agorist, March 20, 2016:  … as Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access points out, medical cannabis is an effective treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where other drugs fail. Veterans are successfully treating themselves despite the federal government’s prohibition …;

Doctors won’t give up, on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Reem Leila, March 17, 2016: Doctors protested in front of their syndicate’s headquarters against police brutality;

Budget 2016: Tories still fighting class wars, on Left Foot Forward,by Prem Sikka, March 17, 2016: The numbers behind Osborne’s statement clearly show the failure of the Government’s strategy;

A Conversation with Bernie Sanders, then Mayor of Burlington, Vermont 1988, 23.25 min, uploaded by The Daily Conversation, March 10, 2016: … presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks with C-SPAN in 1988 while mayor of Burlington, Vermont. The interview reveals more of Sanders’ man-of-the people worldview and political positions, and how little those positions have changed over his 30+ year political career;

Cooperation rather than confrontation, on Current Concerns, March 8, 2016: Speech delivered by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Munich Security Conference on February 2016 – Russia’s assessment of the current European security situation and possible solutions … // … The current architecture of European security, which was built on the ruins of World War II, allowed us to avoid global conflicts for more than 70 years. The reason for this was that this architecture was built on principles that were clear to everyone at that time, primarily the undeniable value of human life. We paid a high price for these values. But our shared tragedy forced us to rise above our political and ideological differences in the name of peace. It’s true that this security system has its issues and that it sometimes malfunctions. But do we need one more, third global tragedy to understand that what we need is cooperation rather than confrontation?

International Womens’ Day, on Socialist Unity, by Andy Newman, March 8, 2016;

Jing-Jin-Ji, A MEGALOPOLIS – China’s Future MEGAPROJECTS: Part 1, 2.42 min, uploaded by The Daily Conversation;

… and this:

uploaded by Pavel Levin:

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