Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he had told his Foreign Ministry to expel the ambassador of the United States and nine other Western countries for demanding the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala.
Seven of the ambassadors represent NATO ally Turkey and their expulsion, if carried out, would open the deepest rift with the West in Erdogan’s 19 years in power.
Kavala, a philanthropist to many civil society groups, has been jailed for four years, charged with financing nationwide protests in 2013 and with involvement in the failed coup in 2016. He remains in custody while his final trial continues, and denies the charges.
In a joint statement on October 18, 2021, the Ambassadors of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand and the United States called for a fair and speedy settlement of the Kavala case, and for an “urgent release”.
They were also summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, which called the statement irresponsible.
“I gave the necessary orders to our Foreign Minister and said what to do: These 10 ambassadors must be declared persona non grata (unwanted) at once. You will finish them soon,” Erdogan said in a speech in the northwestern Turkish city of Eskisehir. , as reported by Reuters, Sunday (10/24/2021).
“They will know and understand Turkey. The day they don’t know and understand Turkey, they will leave,” he said to cheers from the audience.
Citing Reuters, the US and French embassies as well as the White House and US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Erdogan has said earlier that he plans to meet US President Joe Biden at the Group of 20 (G20) major economic summit in Rome next weekend.
One diplomatic source said a de-escalation was possible given Turkey has now made its stance very clear, and given the potential diplomatic repercussions of such a move ahead of the G20 summit and the UN climate summit in Glasgow starting at the end of the month.
“No instructions were given to the embassy,” the source said, adding that it was possible a decision would be taken at a Turkish cabinet meeting on Monday.
Norway said its embassy had not received any notification from Turkish authorities.
“Our ambassador has not done anything to warrant expulsion,” said the ministry’s chief spokesman, Trude Maaseide, adding that Turkey was well aware of Norway’s views.
“We will continue to ask Turkey to adhere to the democratic standards and the rule of law to which it is committed under the European Convention on Human Rights,” Maaseide said.
(wia)
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