As noted by the Guardian and other sources, German human rights consultant Peter Steudtner was detained at a human rights workshop on Monday with five others including Amnesty International’s country director, Idil Eser, for allegedly aiding a terror group.
In response, Germany issued a meaningless statement urging “caution” to which the Turkish foreign ministry hit back, accusing Germany of “blackmail and threats” and “direct interference in the Turkish judiciary”.
Eurointelligence is spot on with its analysis of the situation.
The situation in Turkey is very dangerous, especially now after the imprisonment of the German human rights activist Peter Steudtner on trumped-up charges of aiding terrorists.
Sigmar Gabriel, the German foreign minister, yesterday called Merkel to seek a coalition agreement to warn German travelers to be careful when traveling to Turkey. This is not an official travel warning, which would have significant consequences. It would, for example, have allowed people to cancel existing travel bookings for the summer holiday without penalty. It would have allowed travel insurance providers to exclude Turkey from the list of insured countries. It would have had severe implications for German investment in Turkey. This policy of issuing a de facto but not de jure travel warning is a rather weak response
To distant observers it must sound shocking to learn that the EU’s relations with Turkey have been almost business-as-usual. Merkel and the EU seem willing to do anything to ensure that the refugee deal with Turkey won’t collapse. The response to Turkey’s persistent human right abuses shows us how weak Germany, and the EU in general, have become after accepting the morally questionable refugee deal with President Erdogan in 2016.
The EU has abandoned any pretense of having an interest in human rights, and regards the introduction of the death penalty as the only red line in EU-Turkey relations. The EU thus remains committed to maintaining the façade of a political process that could eventually lead to Turkish EU membership. We would presume that the Turkish leader regards the feeble response from Berlin and Brussels as encouragement to continue to wield the leverage he has over the EU.
One-Sided Principles
The EU only has principles when it comes to Brexit and punishment of the UK. Meanwhile, both Germany and the EU looks the other way when it comes to Turkey, Poland, Hungary in regards to serious rule violations.
MIke “Mish” Shedlock
Perhaps the Turkish definition of ‘terrorist’ differs from ours?
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‘German human rights consultant’ = agitator
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Exactly. Why is the media taking sides in this when they don’t know both sides of the story?
Isn’t it weird how everyone is crazy over Russian alleged interference in US elections, yet this kind of activity is a-okay? NGOs have been known as fronts for spying and covert operations. We should not assume without facts that Turkey is randomly framing innocent tourists.
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The US use of NGOs as tools of subversion undoubtedly gives rise to authoritarian measures in targeted countries. Sort of like an immune response.
As a formerly very free and civilized country, I think the US has fallen further than any other in history. A waste of a once great nation.
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Rights = social facts compatible with a person’s or group’s belief system.
The masses equivalent of the divine right of kings and just as valid.
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“… the EU looks the other way when it comes to Turkey, Poland, Hungary in regards to serious rule violations.”
With regard to Poland and Hungary, the “rule violations” you allude to are dubious charges at best.
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Indeed
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They won’t take in the EU demanded “fair share” of moocher muslim rapists?
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bingo. Hungary & Poland actually have principles that matter to their people.
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Sounds like the EU is a graduate of the Groucho Marx School of Principles: “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others.”
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Not to mention the disasters that are Libya and Ukraine. And the extremely hypocritical anxiety about bombardments on ISIL held areas while never having mentioned the massive shelling of civilian areas in rebel held Ukraine.
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There’s an election coming up – any chance they’ll vote that cow ‘out to pasture’?
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Send her to the glue factory.
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In other news
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-20/worst-ideological-enemy-us-now-europe
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Few people know that Schumer is sponsoring a bill with another Democrat, that would outlaw boycotts against Israel. Carries stiff prison sentences and fines, see S720 – The Anti-Israeli Boycott Act. So much for the 1st Amendment. If that isn’t bad enough, he has gotten 64 othe Democrats to back it.
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You’re misreading the bill. It relates to foreign governments and their organizations, not to private US citizens.
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The bill amends the Export Administration Act of 1979
The bill prohibits U.S. persons engaged in interstate or foreign commerce from:
requesting the imposition of any boycott by a foreign country against a country which is friendly to the United States; or
supporting any boycott fostered or imposed by an international organization, or requesting imposition of any such boycott, against Israel.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/720?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Israel+Anti-Boycott+act%22%5D%7D&r=1
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Start at the top then work their way down to the bottom. The US is the apex bully.
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Germany will teach them (this time it is Turkey) like Greece a painful lesson: if you don’t follow our friendly advice we will punish you by cutting off financial support.Just listen to the crying of Turkish hoteliers – Germans avoid Turkey like the black pest. By the way U.K. is realizing this,too. I am missing Mish’s updates on that LOL
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Turkey will respond by un leashing migrants.
Germany will not act until after the election.
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Was your father or grandfather an SS Captain or something?
It must be genetic. A nasty piece of work.
Did they enjoy themselves?
I bet they regailed you with tales “of the good old days”, working at the camp – shooting in the back of the head or tallying up the number gassed.
Never mind, you can always hope next year will be your turn to try.
You evil piece of shit.
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The EU has been tippy toeing around Turksy for years. Turkey threatened to unleash the refugee flood gates on Getmany last year, they were getting real cozy with Russia, and looking at Gazprom’s proposal for a pipeline across the Black Sea into Turkey and north to Europe, while NATO adds countries to its alliance in violation of the Minsk agreement. With NATO troops lined up in Eastern Europe its no wonder that ratcheting up the rhetoric could easily go very badly. They are all treading very softly now.
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Germany fears the reaction of millions of Turks living inside its borders. Erdogan senses weakness and will exploit it. The Germans, like Americans, have grown fat and happy and have no stomach for a fight.
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I’m not sure I follow you, Alan L.
Are you somehow implying that millions of people are living in Germany but have political allegiances elsewhere, such as Turkey? How can that be?
sarc / off
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I am suggesting that most Germans cannot imagine life without döner schnitzel.
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My comment is awaiting moderation. Did this site turn hyper pc?
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intentional or not, this can’t help but be a subsidy to the Club Med countries that Germany is currently stuck bailing out. The millions of fat, German nudists that were planning on spending their 8 week vacations, and the Euros they are paid while being on them, in Turkey; now comes sailing down to Greece, Italy and Spain instead…..
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Alas, fat German nudists will be spending Euro, not Drachma/Lira/Peso, so there really is no subsidy here – the Club Med countries are wholly-owned subsidiaries of DE.
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>Poland, Hungary
WTH are you talking about, Mish? Poland, Hungary and the rest of the V4 are an island of sanity in the sea of EU-crazy. EU is breaking it’s own rules by not enforcing the borders.
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I am talking about EU issues with Poland over the courts and other EU issues with Hungary that it ignores
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The EU has no jurisdiction over Polish courts.
The independence of Western courts is a myth. Checks and balances don’t really exist. Everything enforces the same one direction. Poland is only guilty of wrongthink.
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Germany’s response has been luke warm – as the empress in Berlin wants to safekeep her desastrous “deal”. OTOH, she wants to force all EU member states to help bear the conserquences of her “Hippie government” party’s overflow.
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If it weren’t for double standards they’d have no standards at all.
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Germany was over run by six million illegal immigrants once before. I am certain the Germans can find a final solution to the Muslim question.
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In 1938 when the US minded its own business you could travel all over North Africa with complete freedom and absolutely no fear,I know ,I did it camping and traveling on my bicycle solo. The natives where very friendly.
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Good timing…In 1941 the Afrika Korps may have put some doubt into your mind concerning freedom and fear…
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At least that time, the Europeans were landing in Africa and not the other way around.
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Did anybody bother to invite Lawrence of Arabia to the Conference of Versailles?
No, of course not.
Who was the highest ranking US soldier to face discipline over the reprehensible mistreatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib?
Probably an enlistee of minimum rank, but I’m just guessing.
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It was a brigadier general in charge of all military prisons in Iraq, and she was reprimanded and demoted to colonel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse#Senior_personnel
There isn’t crystal clear evidence that more senior military personnel were directly involved. The secrecy of the military makes it hard to determine who else may have known about it.
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No surprise,
Merkel has been hanging her own German citizens out to dry for years. Why would she come to the defense of one of her own brought up on bogus charges in Turkey?
Merkel is a true Manchurian leader.
I’m very disappointed in the German people for not throwing her ass out of office. I guess it goes back to those old habits of obeying those in authority.
Old habits are hard to break.
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It’s also what you get when your leader is born and brought up in Eastern Germany under Communism.
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Whether a German citizen gets locked up in Turkey or not has ZERO bearing on Gazprom’s earnings…. and that is what matters most now.
Germany will do whatever Gazprom tells it to do, they don’t have a choice. Any effort to build an energy infrastructure to reduce Gazprom’s influence would take 5-10 years (minimum) — and the clock starts only after Germany stops shutting other energy sources.
Gazprom is building another pipeline through Turkey, and Gazprom wants the Turks support and cooperation. Gazprom has no interest in some lowly German citizen’s arrest.
And that is how matters will be decided in Germany for at least the next 5-10 years, probably longer.
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Jarhead: Fighting the Nazy and meddling in the affaires of the Moslem country’s are 2 very different things.yes I know they have oil.
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It stinks but as it’s Merkels German stink it’s OK.
What’s so surprising in this?
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It’s not about the people: the human rights activists OR the refugees…
“Should it be signed, the S-400 deal would further undermine Ankara’s relations with NATO, especially with the US, as occurred when Turkey decided to buy a long-range air defence system from a Chinese state-run company in 2013. Under US pressure, the Turkish government was forced to scrap the $3.4 billion program altogether in November 2015.”
“By obtaining its first long-range air and anti-missile defence system from Russia, Turkey could conceivably close its skies to NATO fighters if necessary.”
Selected Quotes from: “Turkish-Russian missile deal escalates Turkey-NATO conflict”
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/21/turk-j21.html
Never any U.S. qualms with War Profiteering…
unless the other guys make the sale.
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Trump was correct all along… NATO is no longer relevant.
Turkey has the second largest army in NATO (after the US, ahead of all the others). And geographically speaking, it is the gateway for both middle east and eastern european invaders (see Ghangis Kahn, WW1, the Crusades, etc etc etc).
Time to reduce the US commitment to NATO. We need our troops elsewhere, and if Europe doesn’t want us there we should take the hint and save ourselves billions of dollars.
As for Germany, it is a Gazprom annuity now. Berlin surrendered to Moscow already, whether they make it “official” or not is just semantics.
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