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Humorista
alemão processado pela Turquia suspende programa
VICTOR FERREIRA
17/04/2016 - 18:57
Ancara
quer julgá-lo por causa de um poema lido num programa satírico de
TV e que considera insultuoso para o Presidente Erdogan.
O comediante alemão
Jan Böhmermann, que a Turquia quer ver julgado por causa de um poema
satírico que ridiculariza o Presidente turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
decidiu suspender o seu programa de televisão semanal, Neo Magazin
Royale. Ancara invoca uma lei do século XIX ainda em vigor – mas
que tem os dias contados – para julgar o comediante, tendo o
Governo de Berlim autorizado que a queixa da Turquia seja apreciada
pela justiça alemã.
O anúncio da
suspensão do programa foi feito via Facebook, numa mensagem de
Böhmermann, carregada de ironia, em que alega que nos últimos dias
cumpriu a missão a que o programa se propôs e que tem de pensar na
vida quando até a extrema-direita está ao lado de um humorista na
defesa da liberdade de expressão. Uma alusão ao facto de a
eurodeputada alemã Beatrix von Storch, do partido de extrema-direita
Alternativa para a Alemanha (AfD), ter saído em defesa do humorista,
contra a decisão de Merkel.
A capa da Spiegel
desta semana
“Desde há três
anos, eu e a minha equipa assumimos como nossa tarefa tratar, com
humor, os principais temas políticos, das artes (…)”, começa
por descrever o comediante, cujo rosto está na capa da edição
desta semana da revista Spiegel, com o quarto crescente da bandeira
turca a ameaçar cortar-lhe a garganta. Ancara pede o julgamento do
humorista, ao abrigo de uma lei de 1871, sobre insultos a chefes de
Estado estrangeiros, que já tinha sido usada, na década de 60, para
punir os autores de um cartoon satírico para o então Xá do Irão,
Reza Pahlavi, e na década de 70, pelo ditador chileno Augusto
Pinochet, com sucesso, para castigar os autores de um cartaz de
protesto pendurado na embaixada chilena em Bona.
O Governo de Merkel
autorizou, na sexta-feira, a abertura do processo judicial, uma
decisão que suscitou críticas de diversos quadrantes, incluindo
dentro da coligação governamental que suporta o executivo
germânico. Também na imprensa sucedem-se as críticas à decisão
de Berlim, que classificam como “uma cedência” de Merkel a
Erdogan.
“Acabámos de
assistir ao início do fim da liderança #Merkel”, reagiu outro
humorista alemão, Oliver Kalkofe, no Twitter. “Sinto-me
envergonhado pela falta de coluna vertebral.” Pelo contrário, o
líder da comunidade turca na Alemanha, Gökay Sofuoglu, considera
que a chanceler alemã teve de decidir entre “uma crise na sua
coligação ou uma crise diplomática”. E a crise na coligação
foi a opção mais fácil, resumiu.
A viver sob
protecção policial, Böhmermann já tinha expressado, no dia 8 de
Abril, o seu incómodo pelo facto de uma sátira se ter tornado num
assunto de Estado.
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Insulting
Erdogan: Merkel Falls Flat over a Satirical Poem
A
Commentary by Stefan Kuzmany
A
satirical poem targeting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
become an affair of state. Chancellor Angela Merkel's handling of the
crisis has been abysmal and shows that she is losing her grip on
power.
April 12, 2016 –
05:36 PM
The man has been
penalized enough already. If you have to rely on support from Mathias
Döpfner, head of the Springer Verlag publishing house, and Dieter
Hallervorden, who leads a cabaret theater in Berlin, you're not in
great company. If you become famous, if you make history, with a few
repugnant lines of clumsy poetry and not with your significant
television skills, you have lost control over the popular
interpretation of your own work. If the high point of your fame
consists of calling the Turkish president a goat fucker and
triggering an affair of state, you are not to be envied.
But Jan Böhmermann,
author of the deeply insulting lyrical attack on Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has little to fear should he face trial for
violating German laws prohibiting the insulting of foreign
institutions and representatives. Even if he were convicted, the
absurdity of a prison sentence seems highly unlikely. And he would
likely be able to afford a fine, particularly given the possibility
that Döpfner and Hallervorden would take up a collection to help him
pay.
The only one who
really stands to lose is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In fact,
she has already lost. Despite the current focus on the satirist,
Böhmermann himself is rather unimportant. The real issue is the
chancellor's own power.
It is a curious
axiom in the history of political scandals that politicians only
rarely stumble over the actual mistakes they make. More often, they
trip over their futile and increasingly unsustainable attempts to
cover up or eradicate those mistakes. The cascade of missteps made by
Merkel in recent months has now found its ignoble low point in the
Böhmermann Affair.
Many would say that
Merkel's first and greatest error was that of opening Germany's
borders to the refugees stuck in Budapest in September 2015. That
accusation will not be made here: The chancellor chose a humane
response to a dramatic situation. She found support among German
citizens who had never before even considered voting for her and in
doing so, developed a new following. At the same time, though, she
neglected and ultimately lost an older bloc of voters -- the
conservative, foreigner-skeptic and at least latently Islamophobic
protectors of the German culture. And she relied on the empathy of
Germans and -- perhaps out of hubris -- on the assumption that other
EU member states would follow her lead. Wrongheaded faith in her own
persuasive power was her first mistake.
Trying to Satisfy
Everybody
Yet once she became
aware of the anger within her own Christian Democratic Union, and
within its Bavarian sister party, and once she realized that Europe
-- particularly Eastern Europe -- was in no mood for solidarity, she
tried to back step on the first mistake without losing the support of
her new fans. She began working on a deal with the Turkish government
that would allow her to keep the German borders open while reducing
the numbers of refugees arriving. The deal essentially called for
transforming her dubious partner Erdogan into the European Union's
bouncer. She wanted to maintain the image of welcoming openness while
eliminating the incentives to come. She wanted to satisfy everybody.
That was her second mistake, made while trying to correct the first.
It almost looked
like she would succeed. Even as Merkel's confident rhetoric led many
of her well-meaning new supporters to believe that she still welcomed
refugees with open arms, the Turkey deal allowed her to make an
about-face in the crisis, thus appeasing critics within her party.
The Balkan border closures, which Merkel publicly criticized but
which she privately likely welcomed with a certain sense of relief,
likewise also contributed to the change of mood. German gymnasiums
slowly emptied of refugees and peace finally returned to the country.
If only the Turkish
president wasn't such a choleric bully! He passes up no opportunity
to show the world what he thinks of freedom of opinion and of the
press: Nothing. He is equally fond of demonstrating how much he cares
of those who would criticize that stance: Not at all. Unless his
extraordinarily delicate honor is involved. Then, his rage knows no
boundary.
It is noteworthy
that Erdogan's other, more serious transgressions are being largely
overlooked in the current public perception: his potentially corrupt
dealings; his alleged support for Islamist terrorists; his bloody
operations targeting the PKK, which are likely the product of
domestic political calculations; his meddling in the already
difficult relationship with Russia; and most recently, his bellicose
rhetoric surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Wide Awake Germans
All of it is
complicated, but it is also far away. Yet when the Turkish president
places newspapers under state administration and when charges are
filed against myriad critics for insulting the president, journalists
are suddenly on point. When he then goes even further by having the
accreditation of German journalists refused, having the German
ambassador summoned multiple times for nothing and now even demanding
that Berlin file charges against a German television personality, it
is so clearly undemocratic that anger quickly boils over. This despot
wants to take a German comedian to court? Germans are wide awake.
And here, in this
relatively preposterous affair, Merkel committed her third mistake.
It is a mistake that could ultimately cost her the Chancellery.
Merkel apparently
sought to take the wind out of Erdogan's sails by hastily having her
spokesperson announce that the Böhmermann poem was "consciously
injurious." She could have thrown her support unmistakably
behind Böhmermann, as one might expect from a chancellor charged
with defending the German constitution. His poem was very clearly
meant as satire; none of the uncomely imputations therein should be
taken -- nor were they meant -- seriously. The chancellor, of course,
knows as much. Yet by adopting Erdogan's viewpoint, she has
essentially allowed him to determine what should be viewed as satire
in Germany and what not. Now, the chancellor must decide if German
prosecutors should be allowed to open a case over the insulting of a
foreign head of state -- but because she already described the poem
as "injurious" via her spokesman, she has very little room
for maneuver.
Erdogan, like the
troll that he most certainly is, isn't satisfied. Rather than wait
for Merkel's decision, he went ahead and filed a criminal complaint
against Böhmermann himself. That case will move ahead no matter what
Merkel decides.
A Chancellor Without
Power
Merkel's attempts at
appeasement have not borne fruit. On the contrary, the entire country
can now plainly see that Erdogan has put Merkel under his control and
can lead her around like a big cat in the circus.
And now, Germans
aren't just wide awake. They are electrified.
Merkel, though,
never really had much use for an electorate that was wide awake. The
wonderful peace has once again been disturbed. If she allows legal
proceedings to go ahead, she will lose more than the support of the
new voting bloc she won over last fall: From conservative Turkey
opponents to the very last of Merkel's new fans, everybody will
suddenly realize the shameful extent of Merkel's kowtowing to her
egomaniacal refugee-crisis partner. If she puts a stop to the legal
proceedings, there is a risk that an insulted Erdogan will withdraw
from the refugee deal -- and the horrific images from Idomeni are
merely a foretaste of what then would take place at EU borders
elsewhere. Many people will once again try to reach Europe and
Germany, no matter how great the risks. Many will die. Merkel's
already problematic attempt to solve the refugee crisis will have
come crashing down around her.
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