Criticisms of the Role of EU and its Policies

Following a route from Syria to Russia, where he was refused to be hosted, Öcalan –a criminal sought with a red notice of Turkey– reached to Italy for a political asylum application. According to the Turkish PM Yılmaz, since PKK had already been identified as a terrorist organization and Öcalan as a terrorist by several international organizations, he would have been delivered to Turkey, and the opposite would be “a black spot on the history of civilized Italy” and “Italy would be the accomplice of all the murders committed by PKK so far”⁶²⁷.

Indeed, the Öcalan case would be ‘a black spot’ as reiterated in the Greek parliament, but not on Italy, on the EU as a whole. As declared by the MP Kontaxis “It [was]

shame on Greece, it [was] shame on the allegedly civilized Europe”⁶²⁸. Since the situation was not simply about an individual asylum seeker but about the Kurdish people who were ‘fighting for their fundamental rights’, the responsibility of the Union was esteemed enormous. Unfortunately, the entire debacle would remain as ‘shame’

and “the heavy shadow of Ocalan's delivery [would] always hunt and humiliate not only Greece but also the European Union”⁶²⁹. The Greek parliamentarians thus felt disappointed immediately afterwards when they discovered the Union’s bureaucratic inertia to internationalize or to settle the Kurdish problem, and its reluctance to ensure the minimum guarantees of human protection for Öcalan:

[GR] “The attitude of the European institutions will be a black spot for European history. It is a retreat in relation to the principles of European, legal and political civilization, the failure of the European Union to give asylum, the unwillingness to give asylum to the leader of people struggling for self-determination”⁶³⁰.

[GR] “The attitude of the European Union's bodies in this case will be a black spot in European history. Where did European culture go? And I’m not referring to its inability to resolve the Kurdish problem, but I refer to its weakness on a basic subject. On the issue of granting political asylum to a persecuted person, to a person who is fighting for the rights of his people”⁶³¹.

On the other side of Aegean, Europe was devoid of such emotions as shame and guilt, yet was depicted as a concealed supporter of terrorism. Contrary to its indifferent image in the Greek parliament, it was considered to be totally involved in the Kurdish terrorism. It, supposedly, either ignored PKK terrorist organization or facilitated its members’ legal processes such as providing passports, work or residence permits, and

627 Minutes of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, (18.11.1998): 465. [Yılmaz, ANAP, the then PM].

628 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4519. [Athanasios Kontaxis, ND, the then MP].

629 ibid, 4515. [Evangelos Apostolou, SYN, the then MP].

630 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (16.02.1999): 4463. [Konstantopoulos, SYN, the then MP].

631 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4515. [Apostolou, SYN, the then MP].

illegal processes like armed training in the infamous Lavrio camp of Greece; in MP Kozakçıoğlu’s words: “Europe, though implicitly, has welcomed terrorism in Turkey with pleasure, much like rubbing their hands⁶³² with glee”⁶³³.

In addition to its concrete help, Europe was also ‘giving guidance and counselling to PKK’ especially on policy making and socio-cultural issues. The perennial fear of being dismantled by the others was clearly visible in the excerpt below wherein the MP İncetahtacı stated that Europe traditionally had bad intentions for Turkey. Some European states had been pursuing to accomplish their ultimate goal of dividing Turkey –it was a historical zeal which remained by the time of Young Turks and survived through the newly established Kurdish association named ‘Young Kurds’⁶³⁴:

[TR] “Well, today in Europe –once, like a hundred years ago [as it was] again in Europe– a movement under the name of ‘Young Kurds’ has been established. Europe maintains, feeds and guides this society called the ‘Young Kurds’. This [situation] reveals the following fact that terrorism and consequently a number of groups and states which had goals on Turkey try to achieve their desired goals not only by supporting financial logistics but also by supporting cultural logistics”.

Conversely, in the Greek parliament, “Europe, the cradle of culture, freedom, human rights, and individual rights”⁶³⁵ was regarded as politically weak and insignificant to preserve its mentioned features and proceed against ‘barbaric Turkey’. Reportedly, European countries that were historically respecting human rights and protecting persecuted people around the world “proved to succumb to the cynicism of the time and refused to protect a man who is seen [obviously] being ill-treated today by a barbaric country that acts both inside and outside its borders”⁶³⁶ beyond and against international law. According to Konstantopoulos, the EU by backing off from its fundamental moral responsibilities presented a major failure in the Öcalan case. The Union might have been in economic progress, but was also in a political decline. The Yugoslavian civil war, the Persian and the Kosovar crises, and the latest Kurdish and the Öcalan issue were the great proofs that the EU had no political role in international developments. In his words: “it is an economic giant and at the same time a political

632 The same idiom was used by Nikolaos Konstantopoulos of the SYN. See, Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (16.02.1999): 4463.

633 Minutes of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, (13.03.1999): 54. [Kozakçıoğlu, DYP, the then MP].

634 ibid, 59. [Mehmet Bedri İncetahtacı, FP, the then MP].

635 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4526. [Evangelos Vlassopoulos, PASOK, the then MP].

636 ibid, 4530. [Papathemelis, PASOK, the then MP].

dwarf who each time accepts the United States and NATO's initiatives and unilateral interventions”⁶³⁷.

In fact, Konstantopoulos was not the first and the last in the Greek parliament who had the opinion that the EU was ‘a political dwarf’ and ‘a stubborn diplomat’. MPs Karamanlis,⁶³⁸ Apostolidis,⁶³⁹ and Sgouridis⁶⁴⁰ were also believed that the Union was in lack of following an independent, common foreign policy even regarding the developments in its backyard such as the Balkans. Supposedly, this politically inefficient image of the EU had to be prevented and overturned because it was not reflecting the true Europeanness. As expressed by Sgouridis, “certainly, there [were]

common values, such as democracy [and] freedom within Europe [which] generally connect[ed] [Europeans] with historical and cultural identity”⁶⁴¹. Norms and values of Europeanness were yet not included in the EU because it was still an economic union, not a political one. As MP Papathemelis put it: “It [did] not manage to become a true political union at all this time, [that’s the reason for] its inability to be present in any European problem of peace, overthrow, etc. [It] [was] an economic market”⁶⁴². In addition to its political inertia, the EU was denounced for acting tacitly in protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms against violences and infringements⁶⁴³. Unfortunately, such advocators in general “openly declar[ed] their faith in human rights and, at the same time, they support[ed] by all means the bloody regime of Ankara”⁶⁴⁴. In Stathis words, Öcalan’s situation was seemingly paradoxical but unfortunately was not the first case where the European Union “announce[d] its faith in democracy and the protection of human rights but refuse[d] to do so in practice. In the [case] of Kurdish people and Ocalan [it] ha[d] refrained persistently from helping”⁶⁴⁵.

Besides, some of the PASOK MPs had a tendency to compare the EU with a religiously determining person who has been cursed by some Christian circles. The MPs Apostolidis and Lotidis, particularly, unveiled an analogy between the most important

637 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (16.02.1999): 4463. [Konstantopoulos, SYN, the then MP].

638 ibid, 4456. [Karamanlis, ND, the then MP].

639 ibid, 4472. [Loukas Apostolidis, PASOK, the then MP].

640 ibid, 4482. [Panagiotis Sgouridis, PASOK, the then MP].

641 ibid, 4482. [Sgouridis, PASOK, the then MP].

642 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4531. [Papathemelis, PASOK, the then MP].

643 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (16.02.1999): 4484. [Antonios Fousas, ND, the then MP].

644 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4513. [Stratis Korakas, KKE, the then MP].

645 ibid, 4502. [Theodoros Stathis, PASOK, the then MP].

prefect of Roman Empire and the EU. Pontius Pilate, who was identified with the adjudication and crucifixion of Jesus in Christian tradition, maintained his reputation as a historical figure that avoided personal responsibility and lobbied secretly for Jesus to be spared⁶⁴⁶. In the excerpts below the Union was defined as Pontius Pilate because of following NATO’s terminology and policies, and treating Öcalan as a terrorist, instead of granting political asylum to the leader of hard-pressed Kurdish nation, who had been fighting for their liberation:

[GR] “I believe that United Europe should take its responsibilities and [start] concrete initiatives.

Strengths of the Union can’t function as Pontius Pilate because the European project and the European integration will lose their credibility before the European citizen”⁶⁴⁷.

[GR] “United Europe and the big countries, those in Europe, can’t close their eyes to a huge problem that exists, they can’t use two measures and two weights. They can’t sit on their hands, like Pontius Pilate”⁶⁴⁸.

The Greek criticisms were about the widespread European disregard for and non-intervention in the Öcalan case, which supposedly spilled over into the whole Union.

Contrarily, on the Eastern side of the Aegean, there was an opposite image of Europe.

Öcalan’s possibility of being granted political asylum, which was defined as “a great European tradition” by the then President of Italy, aroused a sort of perplexity in the Turkish parliament that MP Aksoy censured Europe for the theatrical transformation of a ‘ringleader’ into a political refugee⁶⁴⁹. There was a common sense in the Turkish parliament that PKK was an outsourced terrorist organization with roots (both economically and politically) extended beyond the borders, and “everybody kn[e]w that many countries [whether] friends [or] foes, including neighbors in the first place, had a hand and support in this issue”⁶⁵⁰. Assumingly, those which supported terrorism or counseled terrorists were in an endeavor “to weaken [Turkey] economically and to divide [the] country, [since] they want[ed] to do what they could not do with Sevres that day, with terrorism today”⁶⁵¹.

646 For further research see, Paul E. Creasy, The Gospel of Pilate (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016).

647 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (16.02.1999): 4471. [Apostolidis, PASOK, the then MP].

648 Minutes of the Hellenic Parliament, (17.02.1999): 4499. [Lazaros Lotidis, PASOK, the then MP].

649 Minutes of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, (18.11.1998): 467. [Aksoy, DYP, the then MP].

650 Minutes of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, (20.03.1996): 352. [Hanifi Demirkol, RP, the then MP].

651 ibid. [Demirkol, RP, the then MP].