Monday, October 25, 2021
“With concern and incomprehension”
Erdogan’s threat irritates the federal government
It is not yet official, but the announcement by the Turkish President that he wants to expel several ambassadors is met with incomprehension in Berlin. But you don’t want to react at first. Meanwhile, a tweet from several messages is celebrated as a success by the Turkish side.
The federal government reacted with irritation to the threatened expulsion of the ambassadors of Germany and nine other countries by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin that the statements were “noted with concern and also with incomprehension”. There will be no reaction at first. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office added that expelling the ambassador would “contradict the depth and also the importance” of German-Turkish relations. “And it would also not correspond to the treatment among NATO allies.”
Erdogan announced on Saturday that he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to declare the ambassadors of ten Western countries – including Germany, the USA and France – to be undesirable persons (“persona non grata”). As soon as the Turkish Foreign Ministry has officially notified the states concerned, the ambassadors must cease their activities “within a reasonable period” according to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. According to the Foreign Office, there was no such notification by Monday noon.
The US, Canadian, New Zealand and Dutch embassies in Ankara then tweeted a statement to continue to adhere to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention. Other messages like the German one or their ambassador only shared the US tweet. The article instructs diplomats, among other things, not to interfere in the internal affairs of the receiving state. The state news agency Anadolu celebrated this as a success and tweeted for its part: “The US embassy in Ankara has given way.”
Erdogan criticism also at home
A spokesman for EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell said that developments are being followed very closely and that the situation is classified as very serious. So far, however, none of the countries concerned has been informed of actual measures. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was also cautious: Until the results of the contacts between Turkey and the respective countries become known, it would be too early to talk about them.
In addition to Germany and the USA, France, Canada, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden are also affected. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said the Turkish reaction had been heard through the media, but not through diplomatic channels.
The background to Erdogan’s statements is a statement made by the ten ambassadors at the beginning of last week. In it they demand the release of the Turkish entrepreneur and culture promoter Osman Kavala. The 64-year-old has been in custody in Istanbul since 2017, although the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered his release in 2019. Kavala is accused of supporting the Gezi protests in Istanbul in 2013, which were critical of the government, and of instigating an attempted coup. He is also accused of “political and military espionage” in connection with the attempted coup in 2016. Critics see the allegations as politically motivated.
Erdogan is now also countering criticism domestically. His former supporter and the country’s former president, Abdullah Gül, told the Sözcü newspaper that it could not be in the country’s interest to turn the matter into an even bigger crisis. The opposition accused Erdogan of diversionary measures from an economic crisis. Even in the pro-government newspaper “Sabah”, a commentator urged the government to find other solutions to reduce tensions in conflicts with other states.