The End of the EU Road for Turkey?
Excerpts from a news article:
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn repeated a strong warning that the Constitutional Court’s decision to hear the case for closure of Turkey’s ruling party exposed a “systemic error” in Turkey’s Constitution and announced that he would brief the EU Commission on the case on Wednesday, underlining the seriousness with which the case is seen in Brussels. Under the negotiating framework agreed upon in 2004, the commission can recommend suspending the accession negotiations in the event of a “serious and persistent breach in Turkey of the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law.” Rehn’s warning that the accession negotiations might be at stake appeared to enjoy widespread backing from the European Parliament Members.
German parliamentarian Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, said, “No prosecutor in Europe can dare to file a closure case against such a party. In my country, Germany, no one can imagine such a case against the ruling party, which happens to have the word ‘Christian’ in its name.”
French parliamentarian Ari Vatanen said the situation was reminiscent of South America in the 1970s and ‘80s, when political dictators excessively politicized the judiciary to use it for their own political goals. “Has the Constitutional Court lost its mind? These judges must know nothing about democracy. On issues like this, the judiciary can have nothing to say. The Turkish people have made their choice, and the judiciary should respect that,” he said. “Those who support the case think they are fighting Islamic extremism. Is this how one should fight extremism? You would end up feeding extremism rather than fighting it if you ignore legal principles.”
German parliamentarian Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe said, “No prosecutor in Europe can dare to file a closure case against such a party. In my country, Germany, no one can imagine such a case against the ruling party, which happens to have the word ‘Christian’ in its name.”
Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice president of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, said that it would be impossible to maintain talks with Turkey if the AK Party was closed down and President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an were banned from politics, as sought by the prosecutor. “You cannot continue accession negotiations with a country whose government is removed like this. Who are we going to talk to? Who are we going to negotiate with?”
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