Video: Discussing the Gezi Protests On "Gomorron Sverige" This Morning

Gomorron Sverige this morning

Angry Protests Grow in Turkey as Police Continue Crackdown | NYTimes.com

The NYT reports:

Violent protests against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan engulfed this city on Saturday, as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets and alleyways in a second day of civil unrest and faced the tear gas and water cannons of a harsh police crackdown.

The police has now pulled out of Taksim Square and let protestors in. Prime Minister Erdoğan has admitted that the security forces made errors, especially with regard to their use of tear gas. Judging from the picture below, their errors do not exactly seem limited to the use of tear gas...

Picture courtesy of http://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/

Angry Protests Grow in Turkey as Police Continue Crackdown - NYTimes.com

Lecture by Dr. Sinan Ciddi: Opposition parties in AKP era. April 9, Stockholm University

Israel + Turkey = true (again)

Cease fire with PKK and now making friends with Israel - Erdoğan is on a roll.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israel-pm-apologized-to-turkey-pm-over-flotilla-deaths.aspx?pageID=238&nID=43445&NewsCatID=352

Kurd rebel leader orders fighters to cease fighting, leave Turkey | Reuters

I am afraid that I don't have time for a longer post on this arguably momentous day since I have to finish a conference paper. But Reuters has a sober report on today's call, by the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, for a withdrawal of PKK fighters beyond Turkey's borders and on the challenges that lie ahead. It is worth reading.

Since I am naturally inclined to be naïvely optimistic, I would qualify the healthy skepticism of the Reuters piece by emphasizing that what is happening today and with the ongoing peace process is something truly extraordinary. There are no guarantees and set-backs are entirely possible (how will Turkish nationalists react to seeing a sea of PKK flags but no Turkish flags at the gatherings, for example?), but have we ever been this close to a lasting resolution of the Kurdish conflict?

Let us stop and acknowledge the significance of the moment before adding the necessary caveats.

Below are some excerpts from Öcalan's letter, which was read to more than a million listeners in Diyarbakır today, courtesy of Hürriyet Daily News:

“We are at a point today that guns will be silenced and thoughts will speak. It is time for armed elements to move outside [Turkey’s] borders. This is not an ending but a new beginning”

“Our fight has not been against any race, religion or groups. Our fight has been against all kinds of pressure and oppression. Today we are waking up to a new Middle East, new Turkey and a new future” 

“Today a new era is beginning. A door has been opened from armed struggle to democratic struggle” 

“The Middle East and Middle Asia are looking for a new order. A new model is a necessity, like bread and water”' 

“It is time for unity. Turks and Kurds fought together in Çanakkale [during World War I], and launched the Turkish Parliament together in 1920” 

“Despite all the mistakes done in the past 90 years, we are trying to build a model that embraces all oppressed people, classes and cultures” 

“The basis of the new struggle is ideas, ideology and democratic politics”

Kurd rebel leader orders fighters to cease fighting, leave Turkey | Reuters

Interview on Radio Sweden

On Thursday, I did a 10-minute interview with Radio Sweden, which aired as their Friday interview. I spoke with Radio Sweden's Kris Boswell about the historical State visit to Sweden by President Gül - the first ever - and about why an institute for Turkish studies is needed.

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=5475482

Institute for Turkish Studies Inaugurated! (video)

The Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies was inaugurated yesterday, in the presence of the Heads of State of both Turkey and the European Union!

See the video from the inauguration, with speeches by the Turkish and Swedish foreign ministers, the Vice-Chancellor of Stockholm University (and yours truly) here:

Read more on Stockholm University's home page.

France's softened stance opens the board

Only weeks after the end of the Cypriot presidency and all kinds of interesting things are happening.

Just a few days ago, the French foreign minister stated that France is removing its opposition to opening new negotiating chapters with Turkey, and stated that “France will extend support to Turkey’s EU membership negotiations."

This is a major development because France, under former president Sarkozy, was one of the key opponents of continuing the negotiations that begun in 2005.

France now wants to open Chapter 22 - "Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments."

Add to this the positive signs in the difficult negotiations with the PKK and the potential for the presidential elections on Cyprus to change the status quo and a lot can still happen on the Turkey-EU front.

(Btw, posting this while walking to the office:)

Turkey: EU political benchmarks 'were never given to us' | EurActiv

Interesting report from EurActiv.com: According to a high-level Turkish official in the Ministry for EU Affairs, the detailed benchmarks for what is needed to open two key negotiating chapters (pertaining to democracy and fundamental rights) were never sent to Turkey.

Burak Erdenir, deputy undersecretary at the Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs, said Ankara was never given the promised benchmark criteria that are needed to open the two controversial EU accession chapters covering justice, freedom and fundamental rights, also referred to as chapters 23 and 24.

Here's how the EU describes the process of opening chapters:

Screening – the Commission carries out a detailed examination, together with the candidate country, of each policy field (chapter), to determine how well the country is prepared. The findings by chapter are presented by the Commission to the Member States in the form of a screening report. The conclusion of this report is a recommendation of the Commission to either open negotiations directly or to require that certain conditions – opening benchmarks - should first be met.

In Turkey's case, the benchmarks are of course important since the EU's progress reports have been harsh in their criticism of the areas in question. The two chapters are not part of the eight chapters that were blocked in the 2006 Council decision.

Erdenir suggests that this is a deliberate strategy to delay the accession talks:

“You can’t ask us to complete benchmarks which were never given to us and then bash Turkey on lacking political reforms – it simply makes no sense,” Erdenir said.

I have not found any comments from inside the EU.

Turkey: EU political benchmarks 'were never given to us' | EurActiv

Turkey's EU minister at Stockholm University (video)

Egemen Bağış (right) and Paul Levin. Photo: Eva Dalin

Heading off to Turkey tomorrow for a week so I don't have time for a longer post. But I thought I should at least post a link to the video of the talk by Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs and chief negotiator, Egemen Bağış, at Stockholm University last week.

I introduced Mr. Bağış and moderated the Q&A, which lasted for around 45 minutes. No questions were pre-screened. There were some protests at the very end of the Q&A, which made a bit of a stir in Turkish news, but below is a link to the whole thing, unedited and in its context.

If I have time, I will comment on the content at a later time.

Enjoy!

Here is a link to an article on the Stockholm University web site, with a link to the video.

If you want the video directly, click here.