Erdoğan backs down: Our intention is never to cause a crisis

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Tension seems to ease in the diplomatic crisis that erupted after President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that 10 ambassadors who called for Osman Kavala's release in a statement would be declared "personae non gratae".

"Our intention is never to cause a crisis, but to protect our country's law, honor, interests, and sovereignty rights," said Erdoğan following the Cabinet meeting yesterday (October 25), adding that "the mistakes have been rectified with the statement made by the embassies" yesterday.

Referring to the embassies' statement expressing their maintained "compliance with Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," Erdoğan said, "We believe that ambassadors will be more careful with their statements about the sovereignty rights of Turkey."

Who are the 10 ambassadors? Of which countries?

The following 10 ambassadors made a call for jailed businessperson Osman Kavala's release in a written statement on October 18 and faced a possible declaration as "personae non gratae": David M. Satterfield – Unites States of America (USA), Jürgen Schulz – Germany, Herve Magro – France, Merjanne de Kwaasteniet – Netherlands, Erling Skjonsberg – Norway, Wendy Hinton – New Zealand, Jamal Khokhar – Canada, Ari Maki – Philippines, Danny Annan – Denmark, Staffan Herrström – Sweden.

'The purpose is the same'

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Erdoğan further stated that "the ambassadors who issued the statement on the Kavala case directly target Turkey's jurisdiction, right of sovereignty."

"Turkey cannot tolerate ambassadors questioning its judiciary, while even the country's legislative and executive organs cannot interfere according to the Turkish Constitution," President and AKP Chair Erdoğan claimed.

Also, he described the recent move as "a great insult to all judiciary members in the country, including judges, prosecutors, and lawyers."

"Although their flags, languages, faces, and expressions are different, their purpose is the same: To block the target of a great and powerful Turkey."

President Erdoğan also stated that "anyone who does not respect the independence of Turkey and the sensitivities of the Turkish nation cannot live in this country, regardless of their title," briefly adding: "It is the duty of the head of state to give the necessary response to this disrespect towards our judicial members via an independent, impartial judiciary."

Statements by opposition, judiciary

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP and a former ambassador Ünal Çeviköz has shared a message on social media about the issue and defined it as "the success of diplomacy" that the idea of declaring the envoys "personae non gratae" has been abandoned.

Court of Cassation President Mehmet Akarca and the Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) have also released statements.

While Akarca has referred to the fact that "the ambassadors released a joint statement in a rather organized manner", the HSK has emphasized the importance that all official and private institutions and organizations and people and groups show respect for judicial independence and refrain from any acts or statements that would interfere with judicial processes."

Mentioning "judicial independence" in Turkey, the statements of the Court of Cassation and the HSK have not talked about the rulings of rights violation and release given by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for Osman Kavala, who has been jailed for 1,456 days.

As for Prof. Turgut Tarhanlı, he is not of the opinion that the recent statement made by the ambassadors is a step back in that "the messages of the related countries this week and yesterday did not back down from emphasizing the concerns about human rights and rule of law, but named and clarified the content and intent of last week's text in diplomatic terms."

According to Tarhanlı, in their recent statement, the envoys indicated that their previous statement was not an interference with the country's internal affairs as per the Vienna Convention. Tarhanlı has added that "the English text is taken into account in diplomatic relations. All in all, that Turkish translation is not a text translated by the official authorities of Turkey."

Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations

1.Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.

2.All official business with the receiving State entrusted to the mission by the sending State shall be conducted with or through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the receiving State or such other ministry as may be agreed.

3.The premises of the mission must not be used in any manner incompatible with the functions of the mission as laid down in the present Convention or by other rules of general international law or by any special agreements in force between the sending and the receiving State.

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." (KÖ/SD)