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The meeting was held after Erdogan gave a green light to Sweden at a trilateral meeting held on July 10 between Erdogan, Kristersson and Stoltenberg.
It was no surprise to those who are
old Turkey hands. Erdogan does not hesitate from staging dizzying U-turns. It does not cost him anything. Turkey has for a long time had no foreign policy, just Erdogan’s relations with his counterparts, which includes a bunch of meaningless zigzags and U-turns.
For the sake of making some headlines, Erdogan takes some pointlessly harsh stances; then he sharply reverses
the deadline comes.
On May 29, bne Intellinews noted: “The transactional Erdogan has no particular problem with Nato or Western governments. He will give the nod to Sweden’s accession into Nato in June.
The deadline will fall with the defence alliance's summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.”
“Erdogan loves to test the margins
of the playing field. He’s had a fine
old time creating noise for public relations purposes over the Finnish
and Swedish bids to join Nato. Nato, of course, has already de facto been closely co-operating with both Finland and Sweden. Now the Turkish elections are out of the way, it will want to get
a move on with the formal expansion. Any more nonsense from Erdogan and things could turn rather sour.”
On June 26, Reuters reported that
the US and Swedish authorities are reviewing a complaint alleging that Dignita Systems AB, the Swedish affiliate of a US company, pledged to pay out tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks if Erdogan’s son Bilal assisted
it in obtaining a dominant market position in the country.
In 2018, during the row over the arrest of US Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey, the property holdings of Erdogan and his family in the US had become an issue, not long before Brunson was released.
On July 7, bne IntelliNews noted: “In Vilnius, a ceremony that would honour Erdogan before cameras and a photo opportunity with Biden could end the Swedish accession drama.”
It lasted for more or less one year. Erdogan made millions of media headlines. Now, it is time to find
some other issue. It is summer time. Sending some vessels to Greek waters could trigger a few thousand words of ‘analysis’ on the issue whether Turkey and Greece (both Nato members) would have a battle.
Serbian anti-violence protesters show new energy in rally targeting TV Pink
Djordje Tresac in Belgrade
"Serbia against violence' protesters gathered in
Belgrade in front of the National Assembly for the latest anti-
government rally on July 1, demanding action from the government and Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic after two mass shootings in early May.
This is the ninth time demonstrators have taken to the streets of Belgrade since the first rally on May 8, and the latest protest targeted pro-government broadcaster TV Pink with calls for an end to reality shows that many believe encourage a culture of violence in the country.
Although the crowd gathered slowly, there was a significant increase in numbers compared to the previous protests.
Demonstrations occurred concurrently in 30 other locations, including Nis,
Novi Sad, Uzice and Subotica within Serbia, but also Frankfurt, Paris and Brussels.
No more reality TV
The protests started when the shoot- ings – which resulted in the deaths of 18 individuals – led to widespread discon- tent among the Serbian population but have since broadened as protesters raise a wider range of issues. The protesters accuse the president and the ruling party of fostering a culture of violence through the media and are asking for the dismantling of the responsible regu- latory bodies, and a ban on reality shows and journalistic outlets that print fake news and promote violence.
The change of theme for each week has become the staple of the 'Serbia against violence' protests. This time, it was announced, the demonstration would
campaignforanendtorealityTV,andthe protesters would march towards TV Pink.
In full numbers
Bojana Novakovic, an Australian actress of Serbian descent, used the occasion
to discuss the distinction between violence that has been committed and the rightful outrage of the people.
Following Novkovic, professor Suzana Milutinovic from Cuprija, central Serbia, spoke about the obstacles she faced when standing up to incompetent authorities at the Higher Medical School. She is one of nine women who lost their jobs because they refused to remain silent about changes that were detrimental to their school. "I want people to come back to this country. We have brilliant children and youth. I want them to come back and work here, not somewhere else,” she said at the end.
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