Behind the violent attack on diplomats, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan strategy stands out : it is playing upwards on several tables (Libya, Cyprus, Syria, Afghanistan, Africa) with the exponential increase in the risks associated with the patience of its allies, of yesterday and today. The Turkish president declared the 10 ambassadors who asked for the release of Osman Kavala “persona non grata”. In fact, an expulsion without just cause after three days ago, while he was on his tour in Africa , he criticized those diplomats who defended the philanthropist, accused by Erdogan himself of being Soros ‘ arm in the Bosphorus. VOLTAGE
Last Monday, the ambassadors of the United States, Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden had asked Turkey to respect international treaties and to release Kavala from pre-trial detention, noting that the prolonged detention of Kavala “cast a shadow over respect for democracy , the rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judicial system”. Erdogan in response had stigmatized the words of the diplomats, accusing them of having intervened in the judicial process against the “scum of Soros”. SPEAK KAVALA
The philanthropist in recent days has made it known that he will no longer participate in court hearings or release statements in his defense. He thinks a fair trial is no longer possible in light of the Turkish president’s comments. “Expressions such as ‘Soros scum’ used by President Erdogan on his return from his visit to Africa are extremely deplorable and do not fit the seriousness of his office,” Kavala said in a statement released by his lawyers, adding that he was a member on the board of the Open Society Foundations, but without ever having had the authority to represent the Open Society Foundations or George Soros himself.
“Although the charges against me are not based on any evidence, I have been in detention for four years and the president’s offensive statements against a person who has not been sentenced and awaiting trial are an attack on human dignity. They create the perception that I am guilty and this will directly influence the judgment of the court ”. OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATIONS
The Open Society Foundations also asked the Turkish president to stop invoking the name of George Soros in an attempt to obscure the facts surrounding the Kavala case: “President Erdogan’s offensive language about George Soros, a man that his government welcomed in Istanbul, and an effort to distract from the simple fact that Osman Kavala is innocent and should be released – said Mark Malloch Brown, President of the Open Society Foundations – These toxic comments from the president on a case currently in court are a further attack on Turkey’s supposedly independent legal system. We urge the Turkish authorities to free Kavala now ”. OPEN ON THE BOSPHORUS
Today Erdogan violently attacks Soros, also accusing him of being the mastermind behind the alleged coup of 2016. But the two met very cordially in 2003 at the Davos forum. “We are the open company in Turkey, support us”, Erdogan told Soros in a meeting during the World Economic Forum, as reporter Ahmet Sever tweeted today.who also published the photo of the meeting on social media. At that time, Erdogan aimed to establish a direct and strong relationship with the EU, which is why he sought Soros’ support. Furthermore, as Sever himself observed, the daughter of then Prime Minister Erdogan, Sumeyye Erdogan , had done an internship at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), an NGO supported by Soros. HERE MEDITERRANEAN
To better understand the whole range of facets of the problem, perhaps it is worthwhile to broaden the reasoning beyond the question of Kavala and touch on the broader relations that are being built in the Mediterranean. Like those between France and Greece, which led the two countries to sign a memorandum that includes mutual aid from the French to the Greek side if this latter were to suffer an external attack (even by a member of NATO itself).
Precisely for this reason, the Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has defined the military relations between France and Greece as a fact that undermines the trust between the members of the alliance. Akar had previously referred to some European countries that “are trying to claim a role in the Eastern Mediterranean that goes beyond their size and power, this type of work and beyond their stature, they must know that this will not bring them nowhere”.
@FDepalo
