Our İzmir MP Mr. Ertuğrul Kürkçü gave a speech at the Current Affairs Debate on Turkey of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
In his speech Mr. Kürkçü stated following:
Having listened to the initial speeches, I should like to mention some aspects of this Assembly. This is a forum of representatives of people from across Europe but it is not an intergovernmental coalition for defence and security based on geopolitical and strategic concerns, like NATO. It is a people’s forum, based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As the people’s representatives from Turkey, we expect PACE to regard the situation in Turkey from the point of view of the prospects of democracy and human rights. The Council of Europe is not the place to barter rights and freedoms for profits and benefits, as implied in the opening speech.
As for the failed coup of 15 July, there is an alternative narrative. Who was responsible for the coup? One thing is absolutely true: there was an attempted coup on 15 July. But who was behind it? They say it was the Fethullah Gülen terrorist organisation. And who placed members of the Fethullah Gülen terrorist organisation in very influential posts? The Turkish National Security Council’s 2004 report declared the Gülen sect a domestic threat and said that measures should be taken against it. When this document leaked in the press in 2013, the responsible ministers in the AKP government said that they had never put that document into practice. This means that for nine successive years the AKP government collaborated with the Gülen movement to occupy very influential posts in the administration, the judiciary, the military, universities and so on. Then, on 15 July, came the so-called Gülen coup but it is the people of Turkey who are now paying the price in terms of their rights and freedoms. This point should be considered.
Secondly, when the attempted coup occurred, there was not a full-scale working democracy in Turkey. Domestic colonial war was being waged on the Kurdish provinces, according to a so-called crackdown plan that was leaked to the press in 2015. According to this plan, the Turkish Government aimed for a crackdown that would end with 15 000 killings. Turkey is not heading towards democracy. And today, state-of-emergency rule is apparently going to become a permanent form of governance in Turkey. The Minister of Justice has already announced a draft bill to transfer the powers of judges to the prosecutors and the police. As Turkey rapidly drifts towards an authoritarian regime, this course cannot be reversed by resorting to Chamberlain's failed policy of "appeasement" against Hitler before the beginning of the Second World War.
Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Member of Parliament, Turkey
October 13, 2016
You may also watch Mr. Kürkçü's speech here.