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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his foreign minister on Saturday to expel ambassadors from 10 countries, including Germany and the United States, and they called for the release of an imprisoned civil society leader.
The envoys issued a very unusual joint statement on Monday, saying that the continued detention of the Paris-born philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala “cast a shadow” on Turkey.
Escalating quarrels with Western countries (most of which are also NATO allies) brought Turkey a hot week. Turkey was included in the global blacklist of money laundering and terrorist financing, and its currency plummeted due to concerns about economic mismanagement and risks. Hyperinflation.
“I have ordered our Minister of Foreign Affairs to declare these 10 ambassadors as unwelcome people as soon as possible,” Erdogan said, using diplomatic terms to mean the first step before expulsion.
“They must leave here on the day they no longer understand Turkey,” he said, accusing them of “indecent”.
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Several European countries said late on Saturday that they had not received an official notification from Turkey.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: “We are currently in close consultations with nine other relevant countries.”
The spokesperson of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trud Mased, told the media in her home country: “Our ambassador did not do anything to justify the deportation.”
She vowed to continue to pressure Turkey on human rights and democracy issues-Danish and Dutch officials agreed.
‘Quick solution’
Kavala, 64, has been in jail since 2017 on charges related to anti-government protests in 2013 and an attempted military coup in 2016.
The Western ambassador called for a “fair and rapid resolution” of his case.
But on Saturday, Erdogan described Kavala as the “Turkish agent” of the Hungarian-born American billionaire George Soros, a frequent target of right-wing and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Supporters of Kavala see him as a symbol of Erdogan’s total repression launched after the failed coup in 2016.
Kavala told AFP in his cell last week that Erdogan was trying to blame foreign conspiracies against his rule over the past two years, especially the national conspiracy triggered by the planned demolition of Istanbul’s Gezi Park in 2013. protest activity.
He said: “Because I was accused of participating in a conspiracy allegedly organized by foreign powers, releasing me would weaken the fiction.”
Kavala was acquitted last year on charges related to the Gezi protests, but was re-arrested before returning home on suspicion of being involved in the 2016 coup conspiracy.
The Human Rights Monitoring Agency of the European Commission has issued a final warning to Turkey, requiring Turkey to comply with the 2019 European Court of Human Rights order on the release of Kavala pending trial.
If it fails, Turkey may eventually lose its voting rights and even suspend its membership.
“The President-made Crisis”
Erdogan faces multiple challenges at home and abroad. FATF, the global financial misconduct regulator, has placed Turkey under surveillance for failing to properly combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Erdogan passed the anti-terrorism law, but failed to impress FATF. Critics said that the new rules mainly target Turkish NGOs that promote pro-Kurdish causes and human rights.
The President’s attack on Kavala this week caused unease in the market, fearing that the intensified confrontation with the West would cause the lira to fall further against the US dollar.
The Eurasian Group stated that Erdogan is in danger of “dragging the Turkish economy into a crisis created by the president.”
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