After massive criticism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is moving away from the threatened expulsion of Western ambassadors. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan interpreted the cautious reaction of Germany and other countries as giving in. The ambassadors had “turned around the defamation of our judiciary and our country”, said Erdogan after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.
He believed that the ambassadors will be “more careful” in the future. Erdogan said that anyone who does not respect Turkey’s independence and the sensitivities of the Turks is not welcomed in this country. No matter what status the person has. Erdogan made a statement after several embassies concerned publicly admitted that they would not interfere in the host country’s internal affairs. “The United States has determined that it complies with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the US embassy tweeted. Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand each sent a similar message.
Erdogan had announced at the weekend that the ambassadors of Germany, the USA and eight other countries would be declared undesirable by the State Department. Such a step usually means the expulsion of the diplomats. The occasion was a request by the ambassadors to release the cultural promoter Osman Kavala, who has been imprisoned without a judgment since 2017. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had already called for Kavala’s release in 2019. He argued, for example, with a lack of evidence. Turkey has so far ignored the judgment, although as a member of the Council of Europe it is obliged to implement it. The Council of Europe, which is based in Strasbourg and is not an EU institution, threatens the country to initiate infringement proceedings if Kavala is not released by December.
Erdogan assessed the positioning of the embassies as interference in internal affairs.
The EU ambassador to Turkey, the German Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, welcomed the détente in the dispute over the threat of expulsion of Western diplomats. “I believe that a face-saving way out has now been found for everyone,” said the head of the EU delegation in Ankara. One could hope to continue working together on this basis. There are many common interests and challenges.
