THE idea that Turkey will be joining the EU, let alone on a German-sponsored accelerated fast-track, is becoming more and more of a complete myth.
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President Erdogan is undoubtedly hero-worshipped by many TurksETTY
With all its faults the EU has a series of criteria for member applicants and Turkey fails on about six of them. One is the requirement to offer at least a pretence of democracy.
Torture in custody, judicial executions without trial and rigged elections are also a no-no. Whether President Erdogan was actually behind the brief uprising that apparently sought to topple him is a moot point. What is not moot is that it was blitheringly incompetent from the start and collapsed like a pack of cards in short order.
It seems quite likely he had forewarning and allowed the plotters to put their heads firmly into a noose before yanking the rope. A tip-off? Why not? Several dozen senior officers must have been in the know. A midnight phone call, a quiet word and the deed is done. That was how our Gunpowder Plot in 1605 failed and though in our highly technical world many things have changed some things have not. Treachery is one of them.
There are several things that already look decidedly suspicious. President Erdogan, the kingpin who is undoubtedly hero-worshipped by many Turks, was on vacation at the resort of Marmaris with a small close-protection squad.
For the plotters an absolute must-have would have been his fast elimination. If there was an attempt against him there, he had slipped away just in time. In time, that is, to personally organise the counter-strike.
His appeal, via a handheld mobile phone on TV, rallied the nation to his cause. The rest we know. Since then his revenge against his opponents has been draconian and far beyond those who may have participated in the failed coup. Army, navy, air force – all right, they may have been involved.
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But judges, academics, civil servants, critical journalists, civil rights advocates, the list goes on and on of those arrested by his “hard squads” and thrown behind bars. OK, he was elected to office, first as prime minister then president. But there are serious doubts about the integrity of the last election.
A dictator by rigged election is no novelty. President Lukashenko of Belarus is another, right on the borders of Poland. Does anyone really think Robert Mugabe is the joyful choice of the people of Zimbabwe? There are “elected” tyrants across the world.
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Turkey has blood-drenched chaos to her south in Syria, three million Syrian refugees, an ongoing civil war against the Kurds in her eastern provinces and repeated bomb attacks by IS fanatics. She needs the support of the Western world and especially of Nato, of which she is a member. But the behaviour of Erdogan puts the lot in jeopardy.
