Erdogan escalates tensions with West
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared ambassadors from 10 Western countries, including the United States, ‘‘persona non grata’’ in Turkey over a letter from the countries’ embassies calling for the release from Turkish prison of Osman Kavala, a prominent philanthropist and civil society activist.
It was not clear whether Turkey intended to immediately expel the ambassadors, including representatives from France and Canada, but in a speech yesterday, Erdogan said he had instructed his foreign minister to declare the ambassadors persona non grata – meaning unwelcome – ‘‘as soon as possible’’.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Ankara declined to comment on Erdogan’s speech.
It came five days after a public statement by the 10 embassies criticising Turkey over Kavala’s years-long detention and delays in his trial, which had ‘‘cast a shadow over respect for democracy, the rule of law and transparency in the Turkish judiciary system,’’ the statement said.
Along with the United States, France and Canada, the signatories included Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Kavala’s long legal odyssey – involving accusations human rights groups have derided as farcical – has come to symbolise the incessant crackdown by Erdogan on opposition figures, dissidents and other perceived enemies in the years since a failed coup against his government in 2016.
Erdogan’s attack on the ambassadors – several Nato allies among them – also threatened to further damage his government’s foundering efforts to repair Turkey’s economy and stabilise the local currency, a strategy Ankara has pursued in part by trying to improve relations with the United States and Europe.
A Turkish opposition leader suggested that Erdogan’s statements were in fact meant to deflect blame from economic problems of his own making, including the plummeting value of the Turkish lira.
‘‘These actions are not to protect the national interests, but to create artificial reasons for the economy that he has destroyed,’’ Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), wrote on Twitter.
Erdogan and Turkish officials have framed the embassies’ letter as an intolerable intervention in Turkey’s internal affairs.
But Soner Cagaptay, a Turkish American political analyst and the author of two books on Erdogan, said the president’s advisers had counselled against taking action against the Western ambassadors.
Cagaptay said it was still possible the government would walk back the president’s latest statements. But Erdogan himself ‘‘doesn’t care,’’ he said.
‘‘He realises the economy is collapsing and he can’t restore it,’’ Cagaptay said.
Erdogan hoped focusing on the ambassadors would ‘‘deflect Turkish public anger’’ about the failing economy, which had badly dented the popularity of both the president and his ruling political party ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2023, according to recent opinion polls, Cagaptay said.
An indictment against Kavala accused him in part of colluding with George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist, to incite 2013 protests against Erdogan’s government. Kavala and Soros have both denied the charges.