by
N. Peter Kramer
She decided to give in to his demand that Germany prosecute a comedian. Merkel bowed to Erdogan, being afraid to lose the agreement on Turkish acceptance of refugees turned back from Greece, in exchange she offered more aid and the reopening of talks on Turkey’s accession to the EU.
Angela Merkel cleared the way for German courts to determine whether to prosecute the comedian Jan Boehmermann under an archaic law which prevents anyone insulting foreign heads of state. The trouble is that Erdogan was not really going after a comedian, but was symbolically demanding that the head of the German government publicly recognise his claim that it should not be allowed to ridicule him. Merkel is perhaps right to look for Turkey’s help in resolving the refugee crisis, but she should have made clear to Erdogan that freedom of expression was not on the table in exchange.
As soon as Merkel allowed the case to proceed, the question was: what will Erdogan demand next? And yes, his Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has warned that the migrant swap deal with the EU risks collapse unless visa restrictions are lifted on Turkish nationals by June as planned. "I maintain my belief that, god willing, we will have the visa exemption in June. In the absence of that, then of course no-one can expect Turkey to adhere to its commitments" , Davutoglu said on Monday in Ankara.
Let us hope that the European Commission remembers the 72 criteria to be met by Turkey before it proposes visa liberalisation. Guy Verhofstadt, the Liberal Group leader, has already warned that the European Parliament will not endorse ‘’hasty, bazaar style’ negotiations, “we cannot outsource EU’s asylum and migration policy to Turkey”.
