“Brexit means more Germanification of the European Union, and you know that this is not good for us,” a Spanish participant told an Italian participant at a two-day conference I attended last week. One Dutch participant, on the other hand, underlined the lack of French leadership within the EU as a key concern for the Netherlands. Ironically, the event that brought them together was organized by a German think tank!
I am travelling to Spain for a conference where we will be talking about European values and the EU’s role in regional and global foreign and security politics.
In the 1990s, all the journalists and therefore the public in general knew the name of the General Chief of Staff and the secretary-general of the National Security Council (MGK).
“Gülen schools are the best educational institutions in certain countries. There have never been complaints about them. In addition, Gülenists have been preaching for peace, interfaith dialogue and respect for non-Muslim minorities. And they have never resorted to violence. How can we call them terrorists all of a sudden?” is a question I come across in Western circles.
When I say asking for evidence about the role of Gülenists in the failed coup amounts to insulting Turkey, I am not talking about the U.S. authorities asking for official proof to consider Ankara’s request for Fethullah Gülen’s extradition.
It seems difficult to please Turkey’s Western allies when it comes to relations with Russia. They are concerned when there is tension between the two, but they are equally worried when relations warm up again
“[President] Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has proven to be a world leader. He mends fences with Russia. And now the U.S. is jealous. Did you see how [U.S. President Barack] Obama was looking at Erdoğan and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin during the G-20 Summit?” an elderly acquaintance recently said to me
“I remember how cool we use to feel two years ago when we went abroad to invite artists to perform in Istanbul,” said Murat Abbas, the general director of the Zorlu Performing Arts Center. “Turkey – and Istanbul especially – were very popular. Everybody wanted to come.”
“I have said that 90 percent of Turks agree on only two things: That there is a God and that FETÖ [the Fethullahist Terror Organization] is behind the coup,” Oğuz Kaan Salıcı told me, while speaking about the meetings of the foreign affairs commission in the United States, right after the coup
