21 Jun 2013 | Europe and Central Asia
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Prague earlier this year
Germany has reportedly blocked Turkey’s next steps towards European Union membership yesterday, as unrest continues in the cities of Ankara and Istanbul.
The protests, which began on 28 May, have been met with force from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and Germany has been critical of the crackdown on demonstrators. There have been 5,000 injuries as well as four deaths since the start of unrest.
Talks furthering Turkey’s case for membership were scheduled in its capital, Ankara, next week. Moving forward with the process would have required unanimous agreement from the European Union’s 27 member nations at a meeting in Brussels yesterday.
Diplomats representing Germany blocked the decision because of remaining “open questions.” According to an EU diplomat the protests “obviously had an impact on the decision.”
Turkey has fired back at Germany’s decision, warning that it would cool its relations with the European Union, and “draw a strong reaction.”
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
12 Jun 2013 | Europe and Central Asia, Turkey
In a bid to gain control of Taksim Square, Turkish security forces last night clashed with antigovernment protesters camped out in Istanbul’s centre. Sara Yasin reports
Riot police raided Istanbul’s Taksim Square last night, in efforts to implement promises of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who vowed to bring an end to anti-government protests. Bulldozers cleared out barricades in the square early this morning.
The square was the site of an overnight territorial battle between protesters and security forces, who fired tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons, and rubber bullets onto the crowd. In the 10 days since unrest began in the country, three have been killed, 600 police officers injured, and approximately 5,000 wounded according to the Turkish Medical Association.
On BBC Radio 5 live this morning, Index on Censorship CEO Kirsty Hughes said that Erdoğan’s response “has been increasingly heavy-handed, and not constructive and open towards demonstrators.”
“In the last 24 hours, and just overnight last night, he’s veered towards a very tough response, which I think is going to inflame the situation,” Hughes added.
Several hundred protesters remain camped out in the neighbouring Gezi Park, where protests were initially sparked over a plan to turn the green space into a shopping mall, which snowballed into countrywide protests against the current government.
Turkey’s Broadcasting Authority yesterday said that four stations will be fined for covering the unrest, accusing them of incitement to violence.
Addressing a crowd including Erdoğan in Istanbul this week, EU commssioner Štefan Füle was critical of the government’s violent crackdown on protesters, and called for a “swift and transparent” probe into the violence. He also said that countries wishing to gain entry to the European Union should “aspire to the highest possible democratic standards and practises.”
15 Nov 2010 | minipost, News and features
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a €50,000 lawsuit against the newspaper Hürriyet and its editor-in-chief, Oktay Eksi. On 28 October, the newspaper ran a column entitled: “We have not been as critical as we should have been”, referring to the critical stance the media outlet had taken regarding the government policies on the construction of Hydroelectric Power Plants in the Ikizdere Valley, in the Eastern Black Sea region. After the article’s publication, Eksi issued a short note of apology and resigned as editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
22 Oct 2008 | News and features
Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a claim of ‘moral damage’ against satirical magazine Leman
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