EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed her continued concern at the escalating Turkish crisis Sunday as she called for an end to violent demonstrations and “all cases of excessive use of force by the police”. Cautioning against the risk of a spiralling civil crisis as witnessed in neighbouring Syria, she added: “The continuing tensions underline the need for restraint on all sides and the importance of finding a quick solution based on dialogue, mutual respect, understanding and inclusiveness.”
Her warnings appeared to go unheeded however, as riots entered their tenth day Monday, with Turkish Premier Tayyip Erdogan telling protesters his patience “has a limit”. Erdogan has taken an unwaveringly hard line against the anti-government protests as riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters gathering in the demonstrators’ nerve centre of Istanbul’s Taksim Square for a second consecutive night Sunday.
Addressing his supporters in the capital of Ankara Sunday, which has equally been the scene of increasingly nationwide demonstrations, Erdogan condemned his opponents as ‘capilcu’, meaning looters or vandals. "We remained patient, we are still patient but there's a limit to our patience," he added.
Elsewhere in her official statement, the EU foreign policy chief insisted Turkey had to ensure “full commitment to and guarantee of human rights and fundamental freedoms for the benefit of all citizens of the country, without discrimination”.
Despite Ashton’s measured call to the government reminding it of its democratic duties as an aspiring EU member state, however, its leadership did receive a boost in its accession aspirations, after EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told a conference on ‘Constructing a Common Future for Turkey and the EU’ in Istanbul Friday "not to give up on EU accession".
Acknowledging Ankara’s progress in aligning itself with EU standards and policies by improving its bilateral strategic dialogue, leading the international community’s humanitarian response to the Syrian crisis and passing a series of judicial reforms, however, he called on the government to do more to realise the democratic aspirations of its people, alluding to the recent unrest by concluding: “Peaceful demonstrations constitute a legitimate way for these groups to express their views in a democratic society. Excessive use of force by police against these demonstrations has no place in such a democracy.”
Evading directly criticising the response of Erdogan’s administration, however, he insisted the government had acknowledged the legitimacy of such demonstrations, adding that its emphasis must now lie in launching a “swift and transparent investigation but also to bring those responsible to account”.
Rounding out his address, he continued to “call on Turkey “not to give up on its values” of freedom and fundamental rights. And let me assure you that we, on our side, have no intention to “give up on Turkey´s EU accession”. We are bound together – through opening a new chapter and progress in accession negotiations – to create new, sustainable momentum. We are bound to avoid everything that risks to undermine this. We are bound to succeed together”.
The previous day, at a meeting of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee in Brussels, MEPs criticised the EU’s belated and somewhat muted response to the Turkish government’s hardline treatment of protesters, after a report published by human rights group Amnesty International after the first few days of violence identified more than 1,000 injured demonstrators and two deaths as a result of the clashes.
Revealing the findings, John Dalhuisen, Director of Amnesty International for Europe said: “Excessive use of force by police officers can be routine in Turkey but the excessively heavy-handed response to the entirely peaceful protests in Taksim has been truly disgraceful. It has hugely inflamed the situation on the streets of Istanbul where scores of people have been injured.”
Amnesty claimed to have received 49 complaints from individuals alleging ill-treatment by police while being held in detention as a result of the protests, with charges including being enclosed in overcrowded police vehicles for up to 12 hours without access to food, water or toilet facilities, as well as the injured being denied access to suitable medical care.
"It is clear that the use of force by police is being driven not by the need to respond to violence - of which there has been very little on the part of protesters - but by a desire to prevent and discourage protest of any kind," said Dalhuisen. Appealing to Erdogan to intervene to curtail police violence against demonstrators as well as ill-treatment of detained protesters, he concluded: "The Turkish authorities must allow peaceful protest to proceed, urgently revise police tactics and investigate - and hold accountable - those responsible for the abuses we are seeing.”
Ahead of a scheduled debate on the recent events in Turkey with Ashton at a European Parliament plenary session inStrasbourg Wednesday, MEPs stressed that respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the media and the right to protest, are core EU values and must be upheld in Turkey. Various members welcomed the statement by President Abdullah Gul of Turkey who said "democracy is not just about elections". Some regretted the lack of any apology by Erdogan, while acknowledging the apologies made by Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc for the excessive use of violence by police.
A number of MEPs also criticised the failure of major Turkish media outlets to cover the protests, which have spread to more than 60 cities, and pointed to their possible self-censorship. MEPs called for legal action against the perpetrators of violence and stressed the need to promote solutions leading to stability in Turkey, in accordance with the EU's values and principles.