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Time in Yerevan: 11:07,   28 March 2024

German lawmaker of Turkish origin calls Erdogan dictator with failed foreign policy

German lawmaker of Turkish origin calls Erdogan dictator with failed foreign policy

YEREVAN, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Member of Germany’s Left Party, Bundestag lawmaker of Turkish origin Sevim Dağdelen is one of those German lawmakers who voted in favor of recognizing the Armenian Genocide on June 2.

The Bundestag recognition angered Turkish President Erdogan so such extent that he even made threats and accusations towards the German lawmakers of Turkish origin, even calling their blood “dirty”.

Back in June, Sevim Dağdelen urged to ban Erdogan from entering Germany after receving those threats.

And just recently, after the failed coup attempt in Turkey overnight July 15-16, she made an announcement demanding sanctions to be carried out for violence and mass arrests in Turkey, and Erdogan who is carrying out a persecution policy.

 

ARMENPRESS had an interview with Bundestag MP Sevim Dağdelen regarding the recent developments in Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy.

Mrs. Dağdelen, many views were voiced regarding the reasons of the latest domestic policy events in Turkey, I would like to know your opinion as well. What led to such extreme tense situation?

Erdogan and his AKP already followed an authoritarian course prior to the attempted coup d’etat of July 2016. This policy was backed only by roughly one half of the population. The recent development will deepen the split in Turkish society. What has triggered the so-called putsch right now remains unclear at the moment. It seems to me that there’s not only a split in Turkish society, but within the elites, too. Look at the military, the state apparatus, mass media, or the (higher) education system. If, as Erdogan is constantly repeating, the Gülen movement is responsible for the coup, than we are witnessing a fight between former allies. The AKP and Gülen are adhering both to ultra-conservative and Islamic views for Turkey’s future. Ironically, the ruling AKP follows neoliberal economics, and Erdogan and his family are facing accusations because of corruption.

How do you see Turkey’s future, in case of Erdogan continuing such dictatorial policy?

Since Mr Erdogan has announced to continue the persecution of opponents in the same brutal and extra-legal way, he will plunge Turkey into a full-scale civil war.

Mrs. Dağdelen, after the adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution, you announced that along with several lawmakers of Turkish origin you have been receiving threats, after what you urged to ban Erdogan from entering Germany. Recently you also called for sanctions to be implemented against Erdogan. What is the main reason of making this call this time?

 

 To have a hands-off approach to the Erdogan regime means to encourage the new dictator. Personal sanctions against him might have a sobering effect on him and his entourage, while avoiding hardships for the already suffering people of Turkey.

What practical steps are you going to implement in the future for realizing your demand?

  As politician of the Left party, which is in opposition to the fatal government stance towards Ankara, my colleagues and I will further promote sanctions against the Turkish leader. At the same time we’ll support persecuted journalists like Can Dündar, Erdem Gül or other jailed democrats. We’ll try to shed some light on groups in Turkey, who need a voice from abroad, like the Kurds.

Regarding the June 2 Bundestag’s adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution, what caused you to vote in favor?

I have voted “pro”, since we were witnessing a really historic decision of the German Bundestag. It was the first time that a vast majority of German parliamentarians acknowledged the fact of the genocide against the Armenian people during World War I. This has been also a success of the Left faction in the Bundestag, because our party has always turned against a false consideration of the official Turkish point of view. The fact that this resolution has been adopted means a victory of justice and the principles of enlightenment and a victory over more than 100 years of German denial of German complicity in the Armenian genocide. Mr Erdogan is the mouthpiece of genocide deniers in Turkey. Mr Erdogan holds the view that Armenians have themselves to blame for the genocide, because they had been “terrorists”. This paradigm is maintained by certain party of Turkish society till today, and therefore a clarification of historic facts is so important. Only wholehearted recognition is the way to reconciliation and a common future.

What would you say regarding the further development of Turkish-German relations after this step of Bundestag?

Adopting the resolution has meant only a further step of the deteriorating relations between Ankara and Berlin.

Mrs. Dağdelen, was Erdogan’s response predictable in terms of him going really far, up to accusing and threatening Bundestag lawmakers of Turkish origin?

If you look at the rude views which are common in the islamist spectrum of Turkey, such a reaction was completely expectable. As the denial of the genocide has de facto been part of the reason of state in Germany for the last century, this applies even more for Turkey.

And I would like to know how would you label the first Putin-Erdogan meeting after the long-lasting tense situation which resulted from Turkey shooting down the Russian jet in 2015 over Syrian-Turkish border?

 

 Mr Erdogan’s foreign policy of violence has dramatically failed. Under his leadership Turkey’s position in the whole region has become less safe and relations to neighboring countries more tense. You cannot sponsor terrorist groups across the border and live in peace at home. Erdogan is suspecting a NATO-involvement in the recent coup attempt. So that’s why in regard to Russia, Mr Erdogan had to fix relations with Moscow after shooting the Russian fighter jet in November 2015. Russia could wait and see, while Russian tourists staying away from Turkish tourist destinations seem to have a sobering effect on the Turkish despot. I’m very much skeptical that Erdogan will in the long run change its attitude towards Syria or Iraq. Still the Turkish border is open for new weapons for the IS and there are worrying reports that for Al-Kaida in the West of Syria it is pretty much the same thing. All Erdogan does now with the improvement of the relations with Russia seems he is trying to buy some time.








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