Ferda Çetin
“Calling on Tayyip Erdogan to comply with the ECHR rulings on Selahattin Demirtaş and Osman Kavala means making fun of the people. Because it is Erdogan himself who ordered the judicial institutions not to comply with ECHR’s ruling,” writes Ferda Cetin for Yeni Özgür Politika.
After their meeting with Turkey’s President Erdoğan in Ankara, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, said, “Today we had frank discussions with President Erdoğan on the future of EU-Turkey relations. The rule of law and respect of fundamental rights are core values of the European Union and we shared with President Erdogan our deep worries on the latest developments with Turkey in this respect. We stated that the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Osman Kavala and Selahattin Demirtaş must be applied.”
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission also attended the meeting. “Turkey must respect human rights,” she said after the meeting, “We were unable to persuade Turkey about the Istanbul Convention. Withdrawal of the contract is of deep concern for us.”
These parts of the statements were supposed to represent so-called criticisms from the European Union to Turkey, to Erdoğan, and to the AKP-MHP Government. (The coalition government of Justice and Development Party-AKP and Nationalist Movement Party-MHP in Turkey.)
What is paradoxical is that the European Union, whose biggest argument is based on the separation of powers has legitimised the one-man regime of Erdoğan. This support was actually given by the “satisfaction”, “honesty” and “goodwill” messages of the both EU leaders after their meeting with Erdoğan.
Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen had meetings with Tayyip Erdoğan instead of having seperate meetings with legislative, executive, and judicial institutions. Today Erdoğan has full control over these institutions in Turkey and in this way, they have openly declared that they accept autocracy in Turkey as a partner.
Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen have sought to solve the issues of violations of human rights in Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is the person responsible for these violations.
However, these problems can be understood and solved by meeting with political party representatives, Grand National Assembly of Turkey Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Foundation, Peace Mothers, and families of the political prisoners.
Calling on Tayyip Erdogan to comply with the ECHR rulings on Selahattin Demirtaş and Osman Kavala means making fun of the people. Because it is Erdogan himself who ordered the judicial institutions not to comply with ECHR’s ruling. The proof that the EU officials are not honest about the implementation of the ECHR rulings is that they did not meet with the families of Demirtaş and Kavala, or with their lawyers, and with the Bar Associations. Instead they meet with Tayyip Erdoğan.
Another issue is the attitude of EU representatives regarding the Istanbul Convention.
The Istanbul Convention, signed by the European Union and 45 countries, is an international convention prepared to prevent violence against women.
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, the Istanbul Convention which was signed by Turkey Parliament on 24 November 2011, has become a norm of domestic law.
The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey has made a special arrangement for international treaties, and Article 90 of the Constitution describes it as follows;
“The ratification of treaties concluded with foreign states and international organizations on behalf of the Republic of Turkey, shall be subject to adoption by the Turkish Grand National Assembly by a law approving the ratification. International agreements duly put into effect carry the force of law. No appeal to the Constitutional Court can be made concerning these agreements, on the ground that they are unconstitutional. In the case of a conflict between international agreements, duly put into effect, concerning fundamental rights and freedoms and the laws due to differences in provisions on the same matter, the provisions of international agreements shall prevail.”
So, which institution or who can change or withdraw from the Istanbul Convention?
For this, a special article has been arranged too. Article 87 of the Turkish Constitution, which says, “It is the duty and within the power of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to enact, amend, and repeal laws.”
The parliament has the power to ratify international conventions. Therefore only the parliament can decide on whether to withdraw from an international treaty or not, not Tayyip Erdoğan..
Even if the presidency of Tayyip Erdogğn, (which became possible with a fake diploma!) is deemed to be legitimate for a moment, he cannot annul the Istanbul Convention because the president has no authority to change or annul international treaties.
Von der Leyen and Michel should discuss the annulment of the Istanbul Convention with the President of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the chairs of all political parties at the parliament, the chairs of the AKP, CHP (Republican People’s Party), HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) and Iyi Party, not with Erdoğan.
The meeting of Charles Michel, Ursula von der Leyen and Tayyip Erdoğan is even against the European Union’s principles and values. This meeting is an inter-traders meeting in which topics like trading, money, and profits are discussed.
President of the European Council Charles Michel approved this by saying: “We have told President Erdogan that the EU is ready to put a concrete and positive agenda on the table, based on three pillars: economic cooperation, migration, and people-to-people contacts and mobility.”
Ursula von der Leyen also said: “Turkey, within the Customs Union, is an important ally in many crucial value chains we have. This Customs Union is a unique framework we have with no other country. To stimulate trade further, we will address the current difficulties we have without any doubts in the implementation of our Customs Union.”
This meeting of EU Leaders with Tayyip Erdoğan shows us that violations of human rights in Turkey does not concern the EU and that the EU is supporting the dictatorship of Erdoğan
A meeting between traders, in which both the buyer and the seller are satisfied…
