Page 19 - TURKRptJun19

the coup attempt meant that as of December last year, 57,000 people were in prison without indictment or pending trial. Even children were at risk of prosecution if they insulted the president, the Commission said. “There is overcrowding and conditions are deteriorating,” the report said of the Turkish prison system. Critics who feel Turkey can hardly claim to be a democracy anymore will pay close attention to the Istanbul mayoral election revote scheduled for June 23. The Commission said it was a matter of serious concern that the original, end-of-March Istanbul vote, won by the opposition after 25 years of rule by Erdogan’s AKP party and its Islamist predecessors, was annulled and rescheduled. The AKP cited polling station “irregularities” in demanding the revote. The main opposition said the decision to hold a replacement vote was a disaster for Turkey’s democratic credentials. The move went “against the very core of a democratic electoral process—that is to ensure that the will of the people prevails,” the Commission added, saying it was clear that in Turkey free speech and freedom to protest were being curtailed and local democracy was at risk.
Eurocrats, however, are wary of damaging the EU’s agreement with Turkey under which the country offers shelter to 3.6mn Syrians that have fled their civil war. Without Turkey’s cooperation, many would move on and seek refuge in Europe. In its report, the Commission praised Ankara for reducing the number of people trying to cross into Greece on makeshift vessels.
Both the EU and US have expressed deep concern at Turkey’s announcement that it is going ahead with plans to start exploratory drilling for gas and oil off Cyprus, a move that Brussels has said would be illegal. Turkey already has strained relations with the EU and is involved in multiple foreign policy disagreements with the Trump administration. The government of the Republic of Cyprus controls only two-thirds of the Mediterranean island; the northern third has been controlled by a Turkish- backed breakaway administration for 45 years, with multiple peacemaking and reunification attempts making little headway over the years. European Union member Cyprus has been pressing to develop offshore gas deposits and has signed deals with energy giants Eni, Total and ExxonMobil that have seen them carry out exploratory drilling. However, its claims to deposits overlap with those of Ankara. Breakaway northern Cyprus says that any offshore wealth also belongs to it because it was a partner in the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960. The island was divided in 1974 after the Turkish invasion sparked by a brief Greek-inspired coup.
EU pledges “full solidarity”. European Council President Donald Tusk said on May 5 that the European Union would stand behind Cyprus in its dispute with Turkey over offshore drilling operations.
Also on May 9, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Britain is concerned by Turkey’s intention to begin the offshore drilling operations.
Turkey has aggravated tensions over its plans to start drilling in a maritime territory considered part of an exclusive economic zone by Cyprus by launching major naval exercises. The May 13-25 exercises would take place in the eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Black Sea with 131 warships, 57 warplanes and 33 helicopters, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement. Last year, Turkey dispatched gunboats to prevent drilling operations by Eni commissioned by the Cypriot government. The company abandoned the search.
Cyprus threatens “arrest warrants” over Turkish drilling. Cyprus has warned that it will issue international and European arrest warrants “for all involved” if drilling for gas and oil—as threatened by Turkey—takes place in what it considers as its exclusive economic zone. Despite warnings from Nicosia, the EU and the US, Turkey has said it will “exercise its sovereign rights” to drill off Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean and has sent its first ever drillship, the Fatih, and support vessels, escorted by a naval frigate.
19 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com