TÜRKÇE
  Updated: 11/12/2017

EU Minister Ömer Çelik’s article published in IL Mattino

Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Ömer Çelik’s article titled “July 15th, 2016, Remembering The Plot Against Turkish Democracy ” is published in IL Mattino.

July 15th, 2016, REMEMBERING THE PLOT AGAINST TURKISH DEMOCRACY

While Türkiye has a long history as a nation, we will soon celebrate the centenary of establishing our Republic. Throughout this nearly 100 years, our underlying goal has been upholding universal values such as democracy, rule of law and reaching the highest standards for all our citizens. Thus, our quest for EU membership should be seen in this perspective.

One year ago, on the night of 15th of July 2016, the Turkish nation as a whole, stood united in solidarity, against a heinous coup attempt by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) whose members had infiltrated the state structure for decades. For the first time, coup plotters opened fire directly on citizens, bombarded the Turkish Parliament.

Once the coup attempt was put down by Turkish people who took to the streets, Turkish state had to act determinedly to prevent another coup attempt by the FETO. In order to fight this organization the first step was the declaration of an emergency rule, a Constitutional measure, which is also prescribed by Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights and is a purely legal measure applied by all countries when necessary.

Thousands of clandestine members of FETO have been dismissed from the state services, mainly from the army, the judiciary and the police force. With the cleansing of the members of FETO from the state institutions, Türkiye has now become even more transparent.

Throughout this unique process, Türkiye has been careful to uphold the rule of law in close contact with the international community and by following the recommendations of the Council of Europe. Effective redress mechanisms have been established and strong measures such as period of detention and incommunicado detention were modified.

Türkiye also established an Inquiry Commission on the Emergency Measures whose decisions are subject to judicial review and is accepted as a legal domestic remedy by the European Court of Human Rights. The members of the Commission were designated and it has just become operational this week. 

However, the emergency measures received harsh and unjust criticism from some parts of the international community. Even the role of the FETO in the coup attempt was not properly accepted.

It was most disappointing for Türkiye to feel the lack of full support of its long-standing allies. Instead of support, what Türkiye received was the questioning of Turkish Government’s credentials. Placing Türkiye under political monitoring and calling the suspension of accession negotiations, on the grounds of measures of the emergency rule and constitutional amendments, is not just a mistake, but also a denial of the core values enshrined by the international conventions and ignoring the events of the coup attempt.

Historians who will write on European political history in the coming decades will most probably be shocked to see how a European democracy was left alone in the face of a bloody plot.

This fight against FETO is not over and will continue in line with the principles of national and international law. However, international support in this struggle is essential. Yet, on the contrary, we regret to witness an increasing number of the acceptance of asylum applications of FETO members.

As a candidate for EU membership and part of all western institutions, we believe that more support for upholding universal values will only enhance mutual trust and solidarity. This coup attempt occurred at a time when the Türkiye-EU relations were re-energizing. However, we continued to fulfil all our commitments without any prejudice. Our common future can only be reinforced through dialogue and building secure bridges of trust. We believe that the accession negotiations, being the backbone of Türkiye-EU relations is the most suitable framework in our quest.

What we need at the anniversary of the coup attempt is not sympathy for coup plotters and members of terrorist organizations as well as biased and groundless criticism, but more solidarity with Turkish democracy, cooperation, dialogue and understanding.


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Updated: 11/12/2017 / Hit: 6,087