LAURENCE NORMAN
– La Germania ha rifiutato il consenso (occorre l’unanimità dei 27) alla ripresa dei negoziati con la Turchia (su 1 delle 35 direttive politiche richieste per l’ingresso nella UE), che dovevano riprendere il 26 giugno, formalmente per questioni tecniche, nella sostanza per la repressione operata da Erdogan contro il movimento di protesta.
– La Germania è il maggior partner commerciale della Turchia;
· in Germania vivono circa 3 milioni di turchi.
– Il ministro turco per gli affari europei ha accusato la Merkel di voler utilizzare la Turchia a scopo politico interno, le prossime elezioni parlamentari tedesche.
– Il presidente del gruppo parlamentare Union[e] (CDU-CSU) della Merkel, ha avvertito che l’invio di militari a reprimere il movimento di protesta metterebbe fortemente a rischio le ambizioni europee della Turchia.
– I dimostranti turchi stanno cercando di trasformare in movimento politico le proteste scoppiate spontaneamente contro l’autoritarismo di Erdogan.
– Hanno cambiato tattica, passando da scontri di strada a resistenza passiva;
– organizzano riunioni notturne di consigli di quartiere nei vari parchi, per organizzare un’opposizione più significativa e mantenere la spinta.
– Sparsi in decine di parchi a Istanbul e Ankara, migliaia di persone organizzate in consigli di quartiere, scambiano le idee sulle proteste scoppiate il 31 maggio; discutono come rivolgersi alla gente fuori dai centri urbani.
– In quasi tre settimane di proteste, 5 gli uccisi e oltre 7500 i feriti.
– Dopo la repressione violenta ora è in corso un’offensiva giudiziaria, con decine di arrestati.
– Erdem Peköz, 35 anni, filosofo: La prima fase sono state le proteste di piazza; le riunioni pubbliche sono la seconda fase, che creerà una spinta in grado di far cadere il governo con una valanga di voti.
– Alcuni partecipanti alle discussioni sono scettici sulla possibilità che la loro coalizione di “classe media” laica per lo più istruiti, di nazionalisti e di musulmani anti-capitalisti possa trasformarsi in una forza politica, dato che Erdogan è ancora saldo al potere.
– Nel decennio di governo di Erdogan, la Turchia ha avuto una crescita economica del 5% medio annuo, giungendo a un PIL di $786 MD nel 2012.
– Yigit, parlando a oltre 100 persone nel parto Cihangir di Istanbul: in Anatolia nessuno sa della lotta che stiamo conducendo; il nostro è un movimento molto piccolo concentrato nelle aree urbane, di Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir e alcune altre città.
– Il movimento di protesta deve fare i conti anche con manifestazioni di massa filo-governative, centinaia di migliaia di partecipanti, in appoggio a Erdogan.
Anthony Skinner, di Maplecroft, società britannica di analisi rischi: I manifestanti non riusciranno a organizzare un’opposizione politica coesa perché non c’è un’entità unificante capace di tenere assieme questi disparati gruppi di interessi in tutta la Turchia.
Germany Said to Block EU-Turkey Accession Talks
By LAURENCE NORMAN
– LUXEMBOURG—An attempt to break the three-year stalemate in Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union[e] appears to be in danger because of Ankara’s recent crackdown on antigovernment protesters.
– The EU was expected to open negotiations on regional issues with Turkey on June 26. That would have been the first time in three years that the two sides had opened one of the 35 policy "chapters" that Ankara must satisfy to join the EU.
Turkey Activists Try to Turn Protests Into Political Gains
– But at a meeting Thursday of officials from the 27 EU member states, Germany refused to agree to give the go-ahead, according to three officials. The decision has to be unanimous.
– The diplomats said Germany raised technical concerns about regional issues specifically, but added that Berlin’s real concern was advancing the accession process in the aftermath of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on protesters in Turkey.
One EU diplomat said Germany was eager to focus upcoming discussions on issues of justice and fundamental rights in light of Ankara’s reaction to the protests.
– EU ministers could still try and forge a compromise when they meet early next week. However, with German elections approaching in September, one of the diplomats said this now appeared unlikely.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said Germany appeared to be playing politics with the accession issue.
– "If [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel is looking for material for domestic politics, that shouldn’t be Turkey," he said at a forum, according to state-run Anatolia news agency.
– "Turkey’s EU accession won’t stop with a unilateral comment, decision or action by some politician within the European Union. Yes, they can halt the opening of new chapters, but they can’t halt our reforms."
A spokesman at the German mission in Brussels declined to comment.
Since negotiations opened in 2005, Turkey and the EU have opened 13 chapters and completed talks on just one of them. In the past few years, negotiations all but ground to a halt as France, the Netherlands and Germany said they oppose Turkey’s accession.
– However, the negotiations had regained some momentum with the election of a new Socialist government last year in France. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in February that Paris favored advancing the talks.
—Emre Peker contributed to this article.
A version of this article appeared June 21, 2013, on page A7 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Germany Said to Block EU-Turkey Accession Talks Over Crackdown.
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Turkey, Germany Tensions Rise Over Protests
By WILLIAM BOSTON
– BERLIN—German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle summoned the Turkish ambassador to Germany to his office as tension between Berlin and Ankara rose over German criticism of Turkey’s violent crackdown on antigovernment protests.
The foreign ministry said the decision to call in the Turkish ambassador Friday was a response to "unacceptable" comments made by Egemen Bagis, the Turkish ambassador to the European Union. He alleged that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s public criticism of Turkey’s response to mass demonstrations was a cheap ploy to win votes at home. Mr. Bagis said Thursday that Ms. Merkel was "looking for domestic political material" in the run-up to the general election on Sept. 22.
– Germany is Turkey’s largest trading partner and with nearly three million ethnic Turks living here the two countries have a special relationship. Ms. Merkel has often expressed her skepticism that Turkey will be able to fulfill the conditions needed to join the EU, but she hasn’t abandoned the accession process.
"Neither the chancellor nor the government are questioning the accession process in any way," Georg Streiter, the deputy government spokesman told reporters Friday. "We are not talking about ‘whether’, just about ‘how’, to continue the accession process."
Turkey Activists Try to Turn Protest Into Political Gains
Ms. Merkel hasn’t rejected accession talks with Turkey, but she appears to be using the accession process to turn up the political pressure on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edogan and force the Turkish government to implement democratic reforms.
– Germany and the Netherlands on Thursday blocked a move to restart discussions over one of the 35 policy guidelines—called chapters—that Turkey must fulfill in order to join the 27-nation bloc. The talks were supposed to begin June 26 over what analysts say is an uncomplicated chapter dealing with regional governance issues.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry said the talks were stalled over technical issues, but also said that the German government would prefer to discuss chapters with Turkey that deal with the "heart of the Europe"—questions of democracy and respecting human rights.
– For German policy makers, the Turkish government’s response to further demonstrations could become the key to relaunching accession talks with the EU that have been stalled for more than three years. Volker Kauder, chairman of the parliamentary group of Ms. Merkel’s conservatives, said Friday it would be "inappropriate" to open any new chapters in the accession process now in light of the government crackdown on protest.
– He warned that sending in the military to put down protests would seriously jeopardize Turkey’s EU ambitions.
"In that case the EU would have to break off accession negotiations," Mr. Kauder told the daily Welt newspaper, in an interview that appeared online on Friday.
Write to William Boston at william.boston@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared June 22, 2013, on page A8 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Turkey, Germany Tensions Rise Over Protests.
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