Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy Egemen Bağış has slammed the attitude of the European Union over the issue of press freedom in Turkey, saying that the EU prefers to remain silent when it comes to the court cases filed against the Zaman, Yeni Şafak and Star dailies.
Egemen Bağış posed as he sat in the driver’s seat of an İstanbul taxi. Bağış chatted with taxi drivers as he continued his visits ahead of the general elections.
In an interview with Today’s Zaman, Bağış discussed how Brussels reacted after a number of journalists had been detained in Turkey, but did not react regarding certain other journalists who call have called citizens blockheads or insulted the families of government members. “The European Commission kept its mouth shut when Şamil Tayyar of the Star daily was given a 50-year jail sentence and does not say a word against the hundreds of court cases filed against the Zaman, Yeni Şafak and Star dailies,” Bağış said. However, they clearly favor some circles in the Turkish media, according to Bağış, who said the EU’s attitude toward the Turkish media is one of the reasons why it has lost credibility in Turkey.
“We cannot say the press is free of problems in Turkey,” Bağış said, and added that the first problem of the Turkish press was the lack of any labor union law that met European standards. The minister said the working conditions of Turkish journalists are incommensurably worse than their European counterparts and they do not have job security.
Bağış rejected speculations that Turkey had lost its resolve in its EU membership bid, recalling a meeting that was held on June 1 regarding Turkey’s EU membership process, despite there being only 11 days left before the day of the elections. He said the reforms will be maintained with determination. He also explained that Europe has been undergoing troubles recently. “The Europeans are facing the harshest economic crisis of the past 100 years. Unemployment rates have increased. Fascist parties are receiving up to 20 percent of the vote. Unfortunately problems concerning xenophobia and Islamophobia have emerged. Under these circumstances, the Europeans are preoccupied with their own troubles. They are not in a position to respond reasonably to Turkey’s rightful membership demand,” he said.
In the meantime, speaking about the upcoming national elections, Bağış highlighted that putting a civilian constitution into effect after the elections is essential. “At all costs, we should institutionalize what we have done in the past nine years and prevent a reversal. This is only possible through a civilian constitution. If we leave without making a civilian constitution, whatever we have done would just be meaningless.”