Thursday, July 22, 2010

Spotlight on Turkey

Barry Madlener, a member of the European Parliament for Geert Wilders’ party, has raised the issue of Turkish involvement with the infamous Gaza flotilla. He brought the matter up on the floor of the European Parliament, and put a series of questions to the European Commission.

Here’s the report from the PVV website, as translated by our Flemish correspondent VH:

PVV Europe wants Turkey’s role in “Gaza fleet” investigated

According to Party for Freedom (PVV) MEP Barry Madlener, Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey has once more shown his true face by playing a role in the “Gaza fleet”, and thus demonstrating yet again that Turkey is not fit to be a member of the EU. Various sources[1] claim that the Turkish government was involved with the “Gaza fleet”. Turkish politicians of Erdogan’s Islamic AK Party wanted to be present aboard the now infamous Mavi Marmara, a self-proclaimed “peace boat”, which according to Madlener had as its sole purpose the provocation of the state of Israel.

Madlener: “The Islamist Erdogan again shows himself to be a true wolf in sheep’s clothing. Turkish politicians who would have liked to board a boat that was full of members of Hamas —designated as a terrorist organization by the EU — give a clear signal that they do not belong in the EU. Instead of the High Representative of the EU, Lady Ashton, condemning this behavior and immediately breaking off the negotiations, she gets down on her knees in response to the provocation by Turkey. She wants to see a bridge between the Islamic world and the EU. I’d rather see a buffer.”

PVV MEP Madlener has filed written questions[2] to the European Commission and asked for the initiation of an independent investigation into Turkey’s role concerning the “Gaza fleet”.

Notes:
- - - - - - - - -
[1] Elsevier.nl: “Turkish politicians wanted to come along with radical activists”
 
[2] Written questions put to the European Commission:
 
1. Is the Commission familiar with of the fact that Turkish politicians wanted to join the radical Gaza activists aboard the Mavi Marmara?
2. What is the opinion of the Commission concerning Turkish politicians who wanted to come aboard a boat where members of the terrorist organization Hamas were also present?
3. Does the Commission have the intention of taking action against the ever-growing anti-Israel stance by Turkey? If so, what kind of actions? If not, why not?
4. Is it true that one of the initiators of the “Gaza fleet”, Hussein Oruc, was given a warm welcome on his arrival in Turkey by the Erdogan government? If so, how does the Commission regard this conduct by a candidate-member country?
5. Is the Commission prepared to begin an independent inquiry into the role of Turkey in relation to the “Gaza fleet”? If not, why not?
6. Is the Commission prepared to break off the accession negotiations with Turkey in view of the provocative behavior of the Erdogan government? If not, why not?

0 comments: