Pressure from the EU
Güncelleme Tarihi:
While Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Orhan Pamuk he did not approve of the violent acts witnessed outside the courthouse on Friday, he also criticized members of the European Parliament (EP) for their presence at the hearing: “They should do the same thing at the European Court of Human Rights. Rights and justice are undermined there too, ” said the PM, adding that, “Unfortunately The EU is trying to put pressure on our power of judgment.”
Erdogan stated that he was not supportive of the de facto acts on writer Orhan Pamuk following the hearing, but criticised the EU, “Unfortunately, the EU is trying to put pressure on our power of judgment, in the same way that the decision regarding the incidents in Van have come under pressure from Non-Governmental Organizations with the media as their tool.”
Erdogan stated that the Ministry of Justice would reveal its decision regarding the case by Monday. He highlighted yesterday in Konya that no NGO or other association had the right to influence the decision of the courts: “The incident in Sisli is just as wrong as the incident in Van, two times two is always four, not five in the morning and six in the evening.”
Prime Minister Erdogan also underlined that “we need to be tolerant. The EP’s presence while the verdict has not yet been reached is an intervention in the decision-making process. Justice cannot be obtained through de facto acts of which I do not approve. Security measures need to be taken and respected, and I have spoken to the Minister of Interior with my guidelines. Whether or not a case is right or wrong is in the decision which will be reached by the court, without intervention.”