However, many Western media sources, including Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, are wondering is it really necessary to make a deal with a country that has been heavily engaged in the sponsoring of terrorists, while buying oil from them at the same time? German journalists argue that it would seem that there’s more than enough evidence to expose Turkey‘s connections with the Islamic State, so European politicians would be better off treating Erdogan differently, since he is indirectly involved in the killings of European citizens. Different media sources do not hesitate to cover the illegal oil business that is run by Erdogan’s family (including the German Bild), along with its bid in the production of synthetic drugs.
Yet, Angela Merkel has been pretty active in demonstrating her support to the Turkish government, even despite the fact that the refugee deal has already been too good to turn down for Tayyip Erdogan. Therefore, he is not simply going to put the money of European taxpayers in his pocket, but he will also receive the support of German politicians, which will hinder a lot of truly uncomfortable facts for Erdogan. Such facts as the recent arrest of journalists that were working for the independent Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet due to their publications about arms supplies to Islamists in Syria, that were run by Turkish secret services. The lawlessness in today’s Turkey shows that its government is pursuing the establishment of a Turkish Caliphate, while extending its rule over Europe.
What’s even more curious is that in the situation where there’s absolutely no transparency in the affairs of the sitting Turkish authorities, the billions allocated by European politicians might be as well spent on the support of Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq. It won’t be surprising, since Erdogan’s connections with radical Islam have been officially confirmed by a prominent Iraqi politician Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie. According to al-Rubaie, Turkey is selling stolen oil at the rate of 20 dollars per barrel, which provides it with the income of 10 million dollars a week. Thus, in just eight months Turkey received over 800 million dollars from Iraqi stolen oil and gas.
One shouldn’t forget that that the ruling AKP party has been based on the former Islamist movement and the banned Islamic Virtue Party. As for Erdogan, he has repeatedly demanded to undermine the principles of the secular state, putting Turkey on tracks of restoration of the Ottoman Empire.
According to the Turkish news center 7 Sabah, it’s not a coincidence that the leader of the radical Islamist organization Jaish Al-islam wrote an open letter to Erdogan to congratulate him with the victory on the recent elections. In his letter the leader of this terrorist group urged Turkish nation to continue its support the so-called “jihad” groups in Syria and around the world. In response to this event, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom Geert Wilders stated that Islamic fascists have come to power in Turkey.
The European Green Party has already urged the European Union to study the events of the recent elections in Turkey carefully, as there’s clear facts of fraud and suppression of freedom of speech, which resulted in the AKP occupying the political scene in the country. In this context, Angela Merkel’s decision to visit Turkey days before the elections to express her support to Erdogan is a startling example of political manipulations.
This kind of support, notes Atlantico, is hard to explain, if one is take into consideration the destructive role Turkey has been playing in the Middle Eastern conflicts. There’ two dangerous flows one is to observe today – there’s a flow of Islamists moving from west to east to join ISIL, and there’s a different flow – thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees heading the other way in an attempt to get to the Western Europe. And now we are being presented with an ever increasing number of evidence that Erdogan and his government is not trying to hinder any of these two, in fact he’s aggravating them. As it has recently been noted by a Turkish journalist, the south of Turkey has been turned into a “boulevard for Islamists”. At the same time, up to two million illegal migrants have attempted to get to Europe this year alone, most of them chose Turkey as a transit state. Those refugees are fleeing wars and misery in the Middle East, they have no money or documents. Those who actually get to Europe are those who were able to pay up to 10 thousand euros to be transported from Turkey by sea or by land. But who gave them that kind of money and do those fund come from the ilegal oil trade with ISIL – that’s a seriously question. After all, the stream of refugees coming to Europe surfaced this summer, as there was no progress on the admission of Turkey to the EU. It was organized deliberately by a group of smugglers that, as it has been reported by media sources, enjoy the protection of Turkish secret services.
So why would Europe still cooperate with Erdogan? Won’t it only be logical for the Europeans to oppose any form of Islamism?
The wave of terrorist attack that has struck Turkey last month shows that Turkish authorities do not control the situation in the country and cannot ensure the safety of their citizens. This state has clearly become a transit point for Islamists and refugees alike. In the light of Erdogan’s irresponsible policies and the growing contradictions within Turkish society, we may expect the imminent disintegration of the country.
So what should we do do? For example, Roland Hureaux, a prominent French politican and diplomat believes that it’s about time for Merkel to demand that Turkey puts an end to the flows of refugees and Islamists, or Europe will be entitled to withdraw all the preferences Turkey enjoyed as a state-candidate that was willing to join the EU.
Vladimir Odintsov, political commentator, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
