At tfiglobalnews.com, we have been covering the issue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s belligerent policies extensively. We have told you how Erdoğan’s Islamism and terrible economic policies have ruined the prosperous Turkish economy, which used to resemble the liberal European economies at one time. We have also covered how Erdoğan has used Jihadist militias in counties like Syria and Libya, which has led to Turkey getting greylisted by the FATF. Today, Erdoğan doesn’t enjoy a good global image due to some very obvious reasons. Therefore, you would have expected Erdoğan to keep a low profile, just like Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hasn’t stepped out of his country for the last 21 months, after creating a pandemic that has taken millions of lives across the world. Xi skipped the G20 summit in Rome too.
However, Erdoğan had different plans. Turkish President Erdoğan attended the G20 summit and got himself humiliated at the hands of the Dutch President, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Joe Biden, and Eastern Mediterranean countries of Greece and Israel, as well as the Greek Cypriot administration.
Dutch PM backs Kavala statement:
Dutch PM Mark Rutte slammed Erdoğan publicly for declaring 10 Western Ambassadors, including those of Germany and the United States of America, persona non grata after they had issued a joint statement for the release of a jailed Civil society activist Osman Kavala.
Kavala’s detention has thus become a sensitive issue between Turkey and the Western world. Kasava has been charged with having links to the 2013 anti-government protests in Turkey and a couple of attempts in 2016, which Erdoğan claims to have been backed by Western powers. Since, 2017, he has been jailed in Turkey without any conviction. Therefore, Erdoğan lost his cool after foreign envoys demanded a “just and speedy disposal” of the case.
On his part, the Dutch Prime Minister said, “I once again explained to him [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] that when Strasbourg makes statements, the Netherlands always reserves the right to draw attention to them,” during a press conference at the end of the G20 summit.
In a stern warning to Erdoğan, Rutte added, “I have told the president that we will continue to do that in the future.”
Rutte also made it clear that the Netherlands and the other Western countries did not see the call for a “just and speedy disposable” of the case as “interfering with internal affairs” but as “affirming more universal values.”
Erdoğan has already faced a lot of embarrassment over the Kavala statement. He had first declared the 10 ambassadors persona non grata. However, after a cabinet meeting at which he was reportedly informed about the economic dangers of diplomatic tensions with the Western world, Erdoğan had said that the 10 ambassadors had learned their lesson and “will be more careful now.” This was seen as a step back on the issue by Erdoğan.
Meanwhile, it is being expected that the Council of Europe human rights watchdog could launch its first disciplinary hearings against Turkey at a meeting ending on December 2. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had ruled two years ago that the prolonged pretrial detention of Kavala was in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite the ECtHR ruling, Turkey did not release Kavala amidst repeated calls by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.
Erdoğan’s fallout with Boris Johnson administration:
Erdoğan had to withdraw from the Glasgow summit because British Prime Minister Boris Johnson didn’t want to make adequate security arrangements for the Turkish President. Well, at least, Erdoğan claimed this. Middle East Eye (MEE) has claimed that two people told that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has cancelled his Scotland visit for the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, due to lower security protocol applied for the Turkish delegation.
The COP26 Conference will be attended by major world leaders like US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron. Erdoğan was supposed to lead the Turkish delegation at the intergovernmental event. However, he is said to have backed out because the organizers restricted the size of the Turkish delegation and the motorised vehicles that Turkish officials could use during the conference.
This is a huge setback for Turkey, as Erdoğan wanted to use the COP26 Conference for pushing his narrative against the developed countries. During a G20 summit press conference, the Turkish President Erdoğan said, “The countries aren’t in an equal position in the climate change process which is a global struggle.” He added, “As we have expressed before, the burden-sharing should be fair between the developing and developed countries.”
It seems that the UK anticipated what Erdoğan was up to and therefore the Boris administration reduced Turkey’s security protocol and compelled Erdoğan to withdraw.
Biden talks about human rights:
Erdoğan is one of the biggest human rights violators in the world right now. And Biden seems to be weaponising Erdoğan’s poor track record.
The Turkish President Erdoğan met Biden on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome. Erdoğan reiterated Turkey’s demand for the purchase of 40 F-16 warplanes from the United States. However, he got a lukewarm response from the US President.
A senior Biden administration official disclosed, “I think the Turkish government and Erdogan, including in his public comments in the last couple of weeks, have been very clear that there is a desire by Turkey to purchase the F16s. And the President took on board his desire to have them but made very clear that there is a process that we have to go through in the US and committed to continuing to work through that process.”
The official added, “The president in general set out his commitment to human rights, to rule of law and all of those issues and acknowledged that those are something that he cares about. And those are issues that he is going to continue to raise and that his administration is going to continue to raise.”
So, while Erdoğan wants to purchase American jets, the US President is in no mood to repair the US-Turkey ties which have been deeply bruised by the Kavala episode and the Turkish purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system.
Greece, Israel, and the Greek Cypriot administration marginalise Ankara:
France is looking to hold a Paris conference to discuss the presence of illegal Turkish mercenaries in the wartorn country of Libya. Israel, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot administration- the three major enemies of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean region are also going to attend it. However, a nervous Erdoğan has backed out of the Paris conference, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G-20 summit.
After returning from the summit, Erdoğan said, “We cannot attend a Paris conference to which Greece, Israel and the Greek Cypriot administration participate, we told him (Macron). This is our condition. If these countries are to attend the conference, then there is also no need to send special representatives.”
Erdoğan is clearly worried about his vitriolic actions getting exposed, if Turkey attends the Paris conference, alongside Israel, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot administration. This is why he has simply backed out of the crucial conference.
Turkish President Erdoğan has thus ended up embarrassing himself even further with his foolishly bold move of attending the G20 summit in Rome.