Erdoğan to deem EU Islamophobic if Turkey’s bid rejected
Erdoğan to deem EU Islamophobic if Turkey’s bid rejected
January 24, 2015, Saturday/ 13:53:29/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / ISTANBUL
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkey is testing whether the European Union is really against Islamophobia, implying that the bloc would be Islamophobic if Turkey's bid is rejected.
“We are testing Europe. Will Europe be able to accept a country that has a Muslim population? Are you [Europe] against Islamophobia or not?” Erdoğan asked in Djibouti on Saturday at a joint press conference with his Djiboutian counterpart, Ismail Omar Guelleh.
Responding to questions from reporters at the press conference, Erdoğan said Turkey's EU accession process is still under way and that “it is not important whether it is accepted or not.”
“You have to accept Turkey to the EU. Turkey is now a powerful country. If you still see Turkey as a country that would beg [for accession] at your door, Turkey is no longer a country that would beg at your door. Turkey would join the EU if it is accepted. If it is not [accepted], it would draw its own path,” Erdoğan said.
He noted that the EU “has to accept” Turkish membership, otherwise the EU would prove claims that it is a “Christian club.”
“But if they accept Turkey to the EU, this thesis would be put aside. Turkey is a member of NATO and the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development]. Turkey is also present in many other organizations. Then why aren't you accepting it into the EU? This means there is another problem,” Erdoğan added.
The Turkish president last month told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that membership with the bloc is a "strategic choice" for Turkey.
Erdoğan's remarks came only a week after he told Brussels to "keep your insights to yourself" in response to criticism over a media crackdown in Turkey. He continued to lambast the EU on Dec. 17, saying that Europe is in no position to give Turkey lessons on democracy.
“Take the trouble to come here [Turkey] so that Turkey can instead teach you [the EU] a lesson in democracy,” Erdoğan said, accusing the EU of acting like Turkey's teacher. “Those who try to offer advice to us should understand that Turkey is no longer the old [Turkey]. We don't care whether the EU allows [us into the EU]," he said defiantly, adding that Turkey is not a slave of Europe.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu also reiterated Turkey's determination to become an EU member, saying Turkey will continue its efforts despite a number of obstacles.
“We will definitely become an EU member one day. We will not beg for it or will not expect any privilege on the way to membership. We will join the EU with our religion, language and traditions,” Davutoğlu said.
Political groups in the European Parliament (EP), which has been discussing a draft progress report on Turkey and will vote for the approval of the report in the near future, have criticized the Turkish government for disregarding core EU values, namely freedom of the press and democracy.
This latest progress report on Turkey was recently released by the EP rapporteur and presented for discussion in the EP last week.
In a statement issued along with the draft report, Turkey rapporteur Kati Piri said last week: “The rule of law and the respect for fundamental freedoms form the core of the EU negotiation process. In this respect, Turkey currently does not meet the expectations that we have for an EU candidate country. The concerns of the [EP] focus on the freedom of speech and the independence of the judiciary -- both essential components of an open democracy."
Deputies from political groups in the EP put the spotlight on the draft report as well as on recent policies in Turkey that are seen as troubling for the EU, including Turkey's growing disregard for basic values such as freedom of expression and democracy.
The vice president of the EP, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, recalled the detention on Dec. 14 of Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and Samanyolu TV Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca and stressed that Turkey disregards values that are critical to the EU, such as freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
“Things cannot go on in this way. New words should be told to Turkey,” added Lambsdorff.
The Christian Democrats, the biggest group in the EP, demanded that the progress report include a condemnation of the Dec. 14 operation carried out against Zaman, Turkey's best-selling daily, and Samanyolu TV, a major Turkish broadcasting TV station. The government-orchestrated media crackdown resulted in the detention of prominent journalists, including Dumanlı and Karaca.
Charles Tannock, a deputy from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, of which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is a member, said Turkey is moving further away from the EU and NATO.
Dan Preda, a deputy from the Christian Democrats group in the EP, made similar arguments by saying that he has concerns, as Turkey seems to be moving in a direction leading away from democracy.
Lambsdorff also lamented President Erdoğan's intolerance of EU criticism over the government-orchestrated Dec. 14 operation last year. Erdoğan had said “mind your own business,” after becoming the target of criticism from the EU in response to the media crackdown.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_erdogan-to-deem-eu-islamophobic-if-turkeys-bid-rejected_370724.html
