Ambassadors crisis: Erdoğan says Turkey will 'go its own way'

Drawing: Murat Başol, Erdoğan's photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that his "persona non grata" order for 10 ambassadors was to prevent other countries from meddling with Turkey's internal affairs.

"The step we took was not a show of strength but was for ambassadors in Turkey not to interfere with Turkey's internal affairs," Erdoğan told reporters today (October) on his way returning from Azerbaijan.

After 10 embassies, including those of the US, Germany and France, jointly called for the release of businessperson and rights advocate Osman Kavala, Erdoğan said on Saturday (October 23) that the ambassadors would be declared "persona non gratae."

CLICK - A brief summary of Kavala's arrest

As the Foreign Ministry did not act on the president's order, he backed down yesterday, saying "our intention is never to cause a crisis."

Today, he reiterated that Turkey doesn't intend to cause a crisis, and added that the discussion was over after the US and other countries announced their commitment to article 41 of the Vienna Convention.

"They should know article 41 of the Vienna Convention better than me," said the president. "But, I think because the US ambassador was also involved in this, [Joe] Biden showed courtesy and the first statement came from there. After ... the nine others being subordinated to America, this matter is closed."

The Committee of Ministers

After being reminded that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe may initiate a process regarding Turkey's failure to comply with the ECtHR rulings for Osman Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, Erdoğan said he "doesn't have any expectations about that."

"We'll go our own way. Will the Council go its own way? Let them go. We listen to European Court of Human Rights and the Council. After listening to them, we'll do what we need to do. We'll to what is necessary," Erdoğan remarked.

What happened?

October 18, 2021 marked the fourth year since the businessperson and rights defender Osman Kavala was detained in Turkey.

On this occasion, the embassies of 10 countries released a written statement calling for his release by specifically referring to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings about his case.

Shortly after this statement was shared with the public, some ministers and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians denounced it. The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) also reported that the ambassadors of the 10 countries had been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey over their statement calling for Osman Kavala's release.

President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also slammed the ambassadors of 10 countries, including the US, Germany and France, who had called for the release of Osman Kavala.

"Why do these 10 ambassadors make this statement? Those who defend this leftover of [George] Soros are striving to get him released," Erdoğan said upon his visit from Africa and briefly added: " "I told our foreign minister that we can't have the luxury to host those in our country. [...] Is it your place to teach lessons to Turkey? Who are you?"

"The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) gave a decision. They want to convict Turkey regarding this Soros leftover," Erdoğan remarked. "Do you release bandits, killers or terrorists in your country?"

In response to these remarks, Osman Kavala sent a message from prison and briefly said, "Under these circumstances, as there has remained no possibility for a fair trial, I believe that my participation in the hearings and presenting a defense would now be meaningless."

In another speech on October 23, Erdoğan said that "he had ordered 10 ambassadors to be declared persona non grata."

"I gave the necessary instructions to our minister of foreign affairs. I told him what to do. I said that you will deal with these 10 ambassadors being declared persona non grata as soon as possible," Erdoğan said.

President and AKP Chair Erdoğan added that "the ambassadors should leave the country if they do not understand Turkey." (DŞ/VK)