A History Lesson in Germany

The reaction by official Germany to these new arrests was token, to put it kindly. Chancellor Angela Merkel could only say, “The journalists can be sure of our solidarity. Just as all those who in Turkey under difficult conditions fight for press and opinion freedom.” She added that it was “most alarming that the high value of freedom of the press and opinion are repeatedly being limited.” The German Ambassador in Turkey Martin Erdmann staged a demonstrative visit to the editorial offices of Cumhurriyet on November 1. But, as Can Dündar, former editor in chief now in exile, complained, solidarity was not enough.

Just days later, on November 4, Erdogan moved against Kurdish politicians, ousting the mayors of Diyabarkir and replacing them with handpicked trustees. As if to test how far he could go, he also went after legally elected parliamentarians. The two HDP party leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yüksekdag, the parliamentary faction leader Idris Baluken and six other members of parliament were arrested. Erdogan accused the party of being the long arm of the PKK. Others who had been detained were later freed but on condition they not leave the country. According to Anadolu news agency, Demirtas would be prosecuted for a speech he gave in October 2011 in Adana, allegedly praising the PKK, and could face five years in prison. Yüksekdag could face the same term for a speech she gave in 2015 allegedly insulting the government.

A day later, in Cologne thousands of Kurds took to the streets to demonstrate against Erdogan’s policy, especially the new arrests. As if in response, on November 5 nine more HDP political figures were arrested, including provincial and district party leaders of Adana. When protesters demonstrated in Istanbul, police stopped them with violence.

Erdogan Goes for Broke

As tensions between Turkey and the EU escalated, Erdogan pursued his tactic of responding to criticism with narcissistic impudence, bluster and threats. For example, when the German mass tabloid Bild Zeitung on November 6 called him a dictator, he said that meant nothing; it “went in one ear and out the other.” Rather, he charged, Europe was supporting the PKK, which could “move freely and without problems” in Europe: “Europe as a whole supports terrorism,” he declared. As for Germany, it not only protects PKK supporters and Gülenists, but has actually become “a haven for terrorists.” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier responded coolly that he could not comprehend such accusations, and Erdogan simply shifted into higher gear. “Hey, Europe,” he was quoted as saying, “are you aware that this terror plague will hit you like a boomerang? We are concerned about your position, at the moment you are opening your doors to terrorism,” he went on. “You will be remembered for all time, because you have supported terror.” To be specific he said that Germany has “protected” the PKK, the left terror DHKP-C and the Gülenists.

Such a harangue, coming in the context of expanding repression at home did cross a red line. Cem Özdemir, parliamentarian and leader of the Green Party in Germany, said Erdogan was turning Turkey into a dictatorship, “a country which is drifting in the direction of an Islamo-Turkish dictatorship.”

Luxemburg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn drew the historical parallel explicitly. On November 7, he criticized Erdogan’s projection of himself as all-powerful at the expense of the state of law, and compared this to “some ‘instructions for use’ for a dictatorship.” He said the fact that Kurds and Turks live in fear of being jailed is unworthy of a country seeking EU membership. He also mooted that torture is being used again and said something like “civilian death” is being practiced, whereby people released from prison are put on blacklists, cannot find employment and are deprived of their diplomas and passports. People have no jobs, lose their homes, and have nothing to eat. “These are methods, one must say bluntly, which were used during the Nazi period,” he said.

The same day, German President Joachim Gauck received Can Dündar officially in the presidential residence Bellevue Palace. Dündar said Turkey was “turning into a Gestapo regime,” and appealed to Germans to open their history books to understand where his country was heading. The homes of intellectuals, politicians and people with different ideas are being stormed, he reported; scientists have been banned from universities, artists arrested. “In the end, it is only a witch hunt.”

Perhaps the weightiest and most eloquent characterization came from someone who is old enough to remember. This is Edzard Reuter, son of Social Democrat Ernst Reuter, who fled Nazi Germany and lived largely in Turkey between 1933 and 1946. His 88-year-old son Edzard, who had just returned from a visit to Turkey, told Dündar during a meeting, “What is happening now in Turkey reminds me of the beginnings of the Nazi period in Germany.”

How to Respond?

Among the options under discussion by worried Europeans are a halt to talks on EU accession for candidate Turkey. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) called for suspending all EU membership talks. “A country that tries to lock up journalists and opposition leaders has no place in the EU,” he said. “For me, the red line has been crossed long ago.” For Asselborn this need not be further discussed since the talks have been “theoretically already abandoned.” Rather, Asselborn thinks economic pressure through sanctions would be meaningful. Considering that 50 percent of all Turkish exports go to EU and 60 percent of investments in Turkey come from EU, “That is an absolute means of pressure, and at a certain point we will not avoid using this means of pressure, to impede the indescribable situation of human rights.”

Outside of Europe, there are other powerful voices that could make themselves heard. Turkey is not only a neighbor and partner of Europe, but a member in NATO. It is actively engaged in the military operations in Syria and Iraq, and not without territorial ambitions. One wonders where NATO’s leadership has stored its history books.

Inside Turkey, the HDP has decided to cease parliamentary activity, in protest against the recent arrests. In a statement, the party leadership stated, “The Erdogan-AKP government is not only targeting the political will of six millions voters,” but has deprived the parliament of power, desiring to hand it over to a trustee, just as it has placed newspapers and other enterprises under trustees. According to German-Turkish MP Ziya Pir, they might give up all their mandates. It is significant that now even the opposition party CHP is being forced to rethink its alliances and tactics. As Cem Özdemir put it, that party, though it “has no MPs in jail, lacks a strategy because … it tried to ally with Erdogan against the coup attempt and now it realizes it might be next.” Indeed the CHP in part supported the parliamentary vote which led to lifting immunity for members, which made the arrests of the HDP members possible.

One should, indeed, reopen the history books in Germany. There one can read about Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor who initially supported Hitler. Then he joined the Confessional Church, which opposed the Nazification of the Protestant church, and as a resistance fighter was jailed and spent years in concentration camps. One quotation has become universally known:

“When the Nazis came for the Communists, I did not speak out; I was after all not a Communist.

When they locked up the Social Democrats, I did not speak out; I was after all not a Social Democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me, there was no one any longer who could protest.”