Turkey
free speech row goes EU-wide
By ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS, 22. APR,
19:30
Turkey has said
Dutch authorities should throw the book at a Dutch comedian the same
way German authorities treated a German comic for insulting Turkey’s
president.
The Turkish embassy
to the EU told EUobserver on Friday (22 April) that Hans Teeuwen
merits “legal … action” for making obscene accusations against
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Dutch TV.
“Just like the
derogatory poem recited by the German comedian Jan Boehmermann,
Teeuwen’s remarks are nothing short of insulting, crude, below the
belt and even racist. In fact, this is precisely the reason why
[German] chancellor Merkel has acceded the case against Boehmermann
to proceed,” the embassy said in a written statement.
“Those who believe
in freedom of speech apparently have not watched the video for
Boehmermann’s poem or witnessed Teeuwen’s remarks,” it added.
“The related
footage must be watched and objectively assessed.”
The statement by its
EU delegation on events in The Netherlands, which currently holds the
rotating EU presidency, takes the dispute to a European level.
Teeuwen himself had
acted in solidarity with Boehmermann after Merkel let prosecutors go
ahead on the basis of a Turkish request.
Both comedians
could, in theory, go to prison under Dutch and German “lese
majeste” laws that carry special penalties for insulting domestic
or foreign heads of state.
Turkey’s statement
on Teeuwen comes amid a scandal caused by the Turkish consulate to
Rotterdam on the same issue.
The consulate sent
an email to Turkish community groups in The Netherlands on Wednesday
saying: “We ask urgently for the names and written comments of
people who have given derogatory, disparaging, hateful and defamatory
statements against the Turkish president, Turkey and Turkish society
in general.”
Turkish officials
first told Dutch media that they wanted to “monitor” a “hate
campaign” against Erdogan.
They then said the
email had been sent by mistake.
But to many Dutch
people, dozens of whom sent abusive emails to the Rotterdam consulate
in response, it looked like the start of a Turkish assault on Dutch
civil liberties.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte
on Thursday, at a press conference with Merkel, said the Turkish
email had “surprised” him.
“It’s not clear
what the Turkish government aims to achieve with this action,” he
said.
He will next week
face MPs’ questions in a parliament debate on the subject.
“We will ask Rutte
whether he stands for free speech … Parliament will want to hear
that Dutch people have nothing to worry about if they speak out on
Turkey,” Kees Verhoeven, an MP with the liberal D66 party, told
EUobserver on Friday.
He said it looks
like Turkey is trying to impose Erdogan’s will in Europe in return
for its cooperation on taking back migrants.
“A lot of people
saw this email as a sign that Turkey is trying to limit the space for
debate," he said. “We have free speech and freedom of the
press and that should always be kept alive without bending to
Turkey.”
He said that Teeuwen
is unlikely to be prosecuted.
But he said that
even if no one is prosecuted the threat of legal action could prompt
self-censorship and have a “chilling effect” on Dutch journalists
and artists.
Verhoeven had, prior
to the email scandal, tabled a bill to scrap the lese majeste
provisions.
He said that under
the new law, which could come into force by 2017, people could still
seek judicial redress for defamation but that the penalty would be
the same for insulting VIPs or commoners.
He tabled the bill
after a Dutch man of Arabic origin was prosecuted in 2015 for
shouting vulgarities at Dutch royals.
The free speech
dispute is bad for Turkey’s image in Europe.
But EU leaders have
tied their hands in a deal to give Turkey visa-free travel and faster
EU accession talks in return for taking migrants from Greece.
Thinking
strategically
Verhoeven said
Erdogan "is not thinking strategically how to react [to
insults], he’s just not happy that he has critics, the way some
people speak about him.”
Turkey has
prosecuted some 2,000 people at home for insulting the president
under its own penal code.
It has jailed dozens
of government-critical journalists and recently shut down the main
opposition newspaper, Zaman.
Erdogan has also
used violence against pro-democracy protesters and fired judges,
prosecutors, and police en masse when they tried to probe corruption
allegations about his family.
“Turkey’s image
is not very positive mainly due to the fact that there is always
prejudice. This fuels a negative sentiment and works against Turkey
even when our cause is justified. We expect our critics to be more
fair in forming their judgement,” the Turkish mission to the EU
said in its statement.
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