Although it is a party which once played the lead role in transferring European values to Turkey, albeit with force, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has recently developed relations with the European Union which remind us of the case of Temel in the joke. The CHP had lent great support to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in connection with the reforms that opened the door to Turkey for full membership negotiations on Dec. 17, 2004, but it has recently started to travel in the opposite direction. Its reactions to the criticisms voiced by European politicians from the same ideological makeup in Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Germany and other European countries are reminiscent of Temel’s. This line had dominated Deniz Baykal’s speeches thanks to Onur Öymen, and it seems that it will not change much during the term of Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.As a matter of fact, the CHP opts to quarrel with and even scorn the European politicians who voice suggestions and criticisms about the CHP instead of reviewing their policies. Sometimes, it accuses them of being deceived or misguided by the AK Party, and occasionally they target the Today’s Zaman and Zaman newspapers. They suggest that since Europeans tend to follow developments in Turkey from these papers, they think negatively about the CHP. A while ago, CHP deputy Şahin Mengü had even pointed to our Brussels representative Selçuk Gültaşlı as the source of negative bias toward the CHP. He even explained that this was the very reason for the CHP opening a representation office in Brussels. “I lived in Brussels and I witnessed it. There is a flamboyant representative of a religious paper. I guess he is being paid graciously. This guy frequently meets EU officials who are interested in Turkey. And Europeans know us via their agency. In this respect, it is us who ought to be blamed. We are now starting to backpedal from this error. You should have heard of it. The CHP has opened a representation office in Brussels,” he said.
The latest row between the CHP and Europe centers on a letter written by this representation office to the Socialist group in the European Parliament harshly criticizing the group’s Vice President Johannes Swoboda, who is warm to Turkey although his country, Austria, lends the lowest support to Turkey’s membership among EU member countries. The reason why he is being lambasted by the CHP is that he had said, “If the CHP wants to be a social democratic party, it should lend support to the constitutional amendments.”
Swoboda had said: “We, as the EU, support Turkey’s democratization. We support this constitutional package as it is open to reforms and freedoms. It introduces social democratic values. Our advice to the CHP and its new leader is that they should back and support this package. If the CHP wants to be a social democratic party, it should support these reforms.”
According to the CHP’s Brussels representative, these words are an open and scandalous attack against the real struggle of the democratic forces in Turkey. When the members of the Socialists group described the letter as “rude and scandalous,” CHP Deputy Chairman Süha Okay argued that Europeans are subject to the AK Party’s disinformation and they tend to act as the mouthpiece of the AK Party.
Europe was not clean-handed, either. But according to this argument, Europe’s naive politicians do not know what really happens in Turkey and therefore are being misguided by the AK Party. However, during the negotiations, just as Turkey examined the EU acquis in every area, Europe did the same, getting a clear picture about Turkey including military-civilian relations, food security, the high judiciary and even the garbage collection centers. The EU’s progress report, issued annually, reviews everything in fine detail and the EU representation office in Ankara prepares monthly reports about what happens in Turkey. Moreover, Swoboda had previously worked as a rapporteur for Turkey, and therefore he knows our country closely.
This is not the first criticism voiced against the CHP. Were former German Foreign Minister and head of Social Democrats Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Swedish Social Democrat leader Anne Ludvigsson, among many more politicians, deceived by the AK Party? Some defined the latest line from the CHP as fascist while other proposed that the CHP should be dismissed from the Socialist International. Indeed, speaking to the Cihan news agency on Monday, Swoboda said that no one can inject him with ideas and he believed that the package is adequate. If only the CHP’s Brussels office would tell its own head office that their policies are in deep conflict with European values instead of making suggestions to the Europeans.
