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Turkey
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, northeastern France, October 1, 2019. Photo: Frederick Florin / AFP
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s foreign minister has accused Emmanuel Macron of hypocrisy and branded him a “rooster crowing while his feet are buried in mud” after the French president criticized Ankara’s domestic human rights record and its policies in Syria.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish FM, told Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency Macron had “exceeded his boundaries by defaming Turkey on freedom of expression”.
“I liken him to a cockerel crowing while his feet are buried in mud.”
The French president had earlier named Turkey as an example of the regression of human rights in Europe during his speech at the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly.
“Turkey, where the rule of law is regressing, judicial procedures opened against defenders of human rights, journalists, and academics should be the subject of our vigilance,” Macron said, according to AFP.
Cavusoglu accused Macron of hypocrisy, saying the French president “has shut down the media department in the Elysee”.
He also claimed journalists had been prevented from addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the French city of Strasbourg.
Turkey has been lambasted for its crackdown on dissidents, journalists, academics, lawyers, politicians, human rights defenders, and activists.
The country is still “the world leader in jailing journalists,” according to Human Rights Watch.
“Journalists working for Kurdish media in Turkey continued to be arrested and jailed repeatedly, obstructing critical reporting from the southeast of the country,” the monitor said in its 2019 report.
The failed military coup of July 2016 was followed by a nationwide crackdown on followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – who was accused of plotting the coup – and other critics of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), especially members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
Former HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and thousands of party members are still behind bars on terror-related charges. Several of the party’s newly-elected mayors have been removed from office in the country’s Kurdish-majority southeast.
There are currently 68 journalists incarcerated in Turkey, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Macron also criticized Turkey for using the refugee crisis to pressure Europe, with which Ankara has a deal to prevent the flow of migrants into Greece in exchange for financial assistance.
“You are perfectly right to say that this is a means of pressure by Turkey,” Macron said in response to a question from a Greek lawmaker. Europe should not “give into pressure,” he added.
There are 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Turkey and the US agreed in August to establish a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria. Ankara wants to turn this zone into a “peace corridor” to resettle millions of refugees living in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said up to three million Syrian could be moved there.
Erdogan has warned repeatedly he is willing to take unilateral action to establish the zone if the US fails to act by the end of September.
“Turkey does not have a single day to waste in this matter. At this point, we have no alternative but to continue on our own path,” he told Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday.
He has also threatened to allow Syrians to enter Europe en masse if European powers fail to support his project.
If the safe zone does not happen, “we will be forced to open the doors. You either give support, or if you won’t, sorry, but we can only put up with so much,” Erdogan said in early September.
France has developed close ties with the Kurdish administration of northeast Syria. Macron has received several delegations from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) and pledged to defend its achievements.
France is also a key member of the international coalition to defeat the Islamic State group (ISIS).
In his prickly response to the French president, Cavusoglu asked: “How many migrants has Macron accepted in his country? Instead, he hosted YPG/PKK terrorists at Elysee Palace,” referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) which dominates the SDF and is regarded by Turkey as the Syrian terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Macron had said during his speech that “in no way can our agenda in Syria be dictated by pressure from Turkey.”
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish FM, told Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency Macron had “exceeded his boundaries by defaming Turkey on freedom of expression”.
“I liken him to a cockerel crowing while his feet are buried in mud.”
The French president had earlier named Turkey as an example of the regression of human rights in Europe during his speech at the Council of Europe parliamentary assembly.
“Turkey, where the rule of law is regressing, judicial procedures opened against defenders of human rights, journalists, and academics should be the subject of our vigilance,” Macron said, according to AFP.
Cavusoglu accused Macron of hypocrisy, saying the French president “has shut down the media department in the Elysee”.
He also claimed journalists had been prevented from addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the French city of Strasbourg.
Turkey has been lambasted for its crackdown on dissidents, journalists, academics, lawyers, politicians, human rights defenders, and activists.
The country is still “the world leader in jailing journalists,” according to Human Rights Watch.
“Journalists working for Kurdish media in Turkey continued to be arrested and jailed repeatedly, obstructing critical reporting from the southeast of the country,” the monitor said in its 2019 report.
The failed military coup of July 2016 was followed by a nationwide crackdown on followers of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen – who was accused of plotting the coup – and other critics of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), especially members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
Former HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and thousands of party members are still behind bars on terror-related charges. Several of the party’s newly-elected mayors have been removed from office in the country’s Kurdish-majority southeast.
There are currently 68 journalists incarcerated in Turkey, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Macron also criticized Turkey for using the refugee crisis to pressure Europe, with which Ankara has a deal to prevent the flow of migrants into Greece in exchange for financial assistance.
“You are perfectly right to say that this is a means of pressure by Turkey,” Macron said in response to a question from a Greek lawmaker. Europe should not “give into pressure,” he added.
There are 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Turkey and the US agreed in August to establish a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria. Ankara wants to turn this zone into a “peace corridor” to resettle millions of refugees living in Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said up to three million Syrian could be moved there.
Erdogan has warned repeatedly he is willing to take unilateral action to establish the zone if the US fails to act by the end of September.
“Turkey does not have a single day to waste in this matter. At this point, we have no alternative but to continue on our own path,” he told Turkish lawmakers on Tuesday.
He has also threatened to allow Syrians to enter Europe en masse if European powers fail to support his project.
If the safe zone does not happen, “we will be forced to open the doors. You either give support, or if you won’t, sorry, but we can only put up with so much,” Erdogan said in early September.
France has developed close ties with the Kurdish administration of northeast Syria. Macron has received several delegations from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) and pledged to defend its achievements.
France is also a key member of the international coalition to defeat the Islamic State group (ISIS).
In his prickly response to the French president, Cavusoglu asked: “How many migrants has Macron accepted in his country? Instead, he hosted YPG/PKK terrorists at Elysee Palace,” referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) which dominates the SDF and is regarded by Turkey as the Syrian terrorist offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Macron had said during his speech that “in no way can our agenda in Syria be dictated by pressure from Turkey.”
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