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Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chairs a Presidential Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace, in Ankara. Date: October 25, 2021. Photo: handout/via AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday welcomed some western embassies’ announcements that they will not interfere with Turkey’s internal affairs following their controversial joint statement in support of the jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala, reported state media.
The embassies of the United States, Canada, France, Finland, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden in a statement on October 18 had called for the release of Kavala.
Shortly after, the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the 10 ambassadors, which included Turkey’s NATO allies, on Tuesday and Erdogan ordered their expulsion on Saturday.
The embassies of US, Canada, Netherlands, and New Zealand said in separate but similar statements on Monday that they maintain “compliance with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
The other six embassies retweeted the statement by US embassy.
The article stipulates diplomatic missions “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that [host] State.”
Erdogan welcomed the statements by these embassies, according to state-owned Anadolu Agency.
Kavala was arrested in November 2017 on charges of overthrowing the constitutional order of Turkey and espionage. He was accused of financing a 2013 protest in Istanbul and was acquitted, but was re-arrested and charged with taking part in the 2016 attempted coup against President Erdogan.
The European Court of Human Rights in 2019 ordered Turkey to release Kavala pending trial and the Council of Europe has warned Ankara to comply with the ruling or it would launch disciplinary proceedings. In a recent interview with AFP, Kavala said the Council of Europe is his best hope for release.
Kavala’s next court hearing is scheduled for November 26.
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