“Many of my friends are at Taksim square.” - You know, when you ask a diplomat a critical question, he very often might say something by not answering and say something different instead. I saw the Turkish ambassador to Germany at a lecture yesterday. Here is a snippet of what he said: “We should be courageous and wage more democracy, we and the European union are in the same boat regarding democracy,” was a message among others he repeated in different words. He was asked many questions regarding the current events by people. E.g. What does he think about Twitter and Social media? I asked what kind of an example the handling of the protests are for the neighboring countries. And what he thinks about Erdoğan going abroad during the crisis. He said, that his kids showed him videos on you tube (and I assume that he meant, those videos are from the current protests) and he says that, of course, people should use social media. But he also he referred to Erdoğan’s advice to Egypt, that they should respect secularism, build your democracy and don’t let it be destroyed by extremists. And stressed that Turkey is an example in the region regarding religious rights. A Law student from Berlin ask: Shouldn’t a leader of a country heal and unite? Erdoğan wants to change the constitution and create a presidential system with unprecedented power to the president, doesn’t that seem more like securing power? What does he think about a leader going abroad during a crisis? He said that he doesn’t know, why Erdoğan left the country, (but he didn’t say that he is supporting this move). He didn’t directly answer the constitution question. But stressed that many of his friends are at Taksim. He cited the Turkey’s president, that one must listen to the people. I didn’t fully get, what he meant, why many people in Turkey had to learn regarding discussion and expressing opinions. I asked him after the lecture, what he meant and he replied, that in former times to many things were made top down and people have to learn to change that. For a diplomat very openly he said: If I was there I would speak to the people offer tea and sandwich and say: Let’s talk and let’s plant more trees. And that we all must wage more democracy. Umut, Bilge, Umut, Burcu - I dont know what he can do, but I must say, that at the lecture were many people from Germany speaking concerned abot what is going on.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:24:49 +0000
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