from the don’t-feed-the-gollum dept

For a political chief who’s so transparently self-serving and incredibly thin-skinned, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan positive appears to have a knack for bending different components of the world to his will.

Having criminalized just about any criticism of him, President Erdogan has managed to silence a variety of homegrown dissent. Nevertheless it’s apparently not sufficient to have one nation below his (presumably elfin) jackboot. No, Erdogan is a censorial cosmopolitan — one prepared to wield other nation’s laws to intimidate and silence critics residing outdoors of Turkey’s unfriendly confines.

That’s horrible sufficient. However for some cause, foreign governments have confirmed prepared to do Erdogan’s bidding, imposing native legal guidelines to punish folks this tin pot crackpot doesn’t assume needs to be allowed to insult him.

This silencing seldom lasts endlessly. Local laws get amended so Erdogan can’t abuse them to censor individuals who aren’t Turkish residents. Even probably the most diplomatic of officers have a breaking level, and Erdogan’s constant pestering often manages to check their limits, making every subsequent grievance much less prone to obtain any response at all, a lot much less the one Erdogan wishes.

After a interval of relative silence, Erdogan is again to creating overseas officers embarrass themselves on his behalf. He’s bought Russia to thank for issues breaking his method. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted nations with long-held neutrality stances to affix NATO — one thing that looks as if a extra interesting possibility when there’s an aggressive nation in your doorstep.

Finland and Sweden are searching for to affix NATO. And that has given Erdogan a chance to demand concessions from these potential members since his nation has the flexibility to block the two applicants from being accepted.

Turkey is predicted to hunt to barter a compromise deal below which the 2 international locations will crack down on the PKK and different teams in return for Turkish help of their becoming a member of NATO. A key demand is predicted to be that they halt any help to a Syrian Kurdish group, the Kurdish Folks’s Safety Models, or YPG. The group is a Western ally within the combat in opposition to the Islamic State group in northern Syria however Turkey views it as an extension of the PKK.

I’m positive the listing of Erdogan’s enemies seems like a set of encyclopedias at this level. Provided that he claims all of the journalists he’s locked up for criticizing him are literally “terrorists,” it’s extraordinarily troublesome to take his assertions about these teams at face worth.

Finland and Sweden might say some noncommittal issues about doing their greatest and hope Erdogan finds one thing else to be shitty about whereas rubberstamping their NATO purposes. However Erdogan desires concessions now, and he’s going to be a ache within the ass about it whereas holding their unapproved NATO purposes over their heads. So, that is how issues are getting in Sweden, the place a moody autocrat has managed to make a top foreign politician apologize for Swedish citizens exercising their right to protest.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday denounced a protest by Kurds in central Stockholm, the place an effigy of Turkey’s president was hung from a lamppost, as an act of “sabotage” in opposition to Sweden’s bid to join NATO.

Properly, it positively wasn’t “sabotage.” It seems locals had been expressing their displeasure with the one particular person in NATO who appears prepared to leverage his veto energy to make the remainder of the world behave the way in which he desires it to. Erdogan’s definitely not going to be any much less prone to press this small benefit now that his displeasure has resulted in quick capitulation by the Swedish PM.

And there’s extra. PM Kirstersson wasn’t content material with misrepresenting the actions of protesters as “sabotage.” That ought to have been greater than sufficient to use some lip service to Erdogan’s bruised ego, however the PM insisted on persevering with.

“Folks tried to point out their views on the Swedish NATO accession by a disgusting method of portraying president Erdogan in nearly one thing trying like an execution.” Kristersson informed reporters after a gathering with European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen. “That’s dangerous in each sense.”

Kristersson mentioned he understood why Turkey is outraged, saying “we’d present the identical response if this was geared toward a Swedish chief.”

Yeah, perhaps. However I doubt Sweden would refuse to approve one other nation’s NATO software simply because some overseas protesters engaged in a bit of dangerous style to show a degree.

And, after all, Kristersson’s in depth apology has solely emboldened Turkish authorities officers. They’re saying even stupider issues concerning the incident, devolving even additional into self-caricature by claiming the Erdogan effigy was a “hate crime” and a “racist act.” Turkey’s overseas minister additionally claimed the whole county was liable for the act as a result of, properly, it occurred there.

“This motion occurred within the heart of town, proper in entrance of the municipality, in entrance of everybody,” Cavusoglu mentioned. “Sweden has a duty right here.”

All of that is exceedingly silly. Chances are high that Turkey’s simply on the lookout for causes to maintain Finland and Sweden out of NATO as a result of it nonetheless thinks Russia’s going to win the lengthy sport. That is all performative and everybody is aware of it. However there’s completely no cause any overseas chief ought to conform to be a bit participant in Erdogan’s silly world theater productions. At greatest, all that must be mentioned to Erdogan and his enablers is “I can see you’re upset. I counsel you recover from it.” Being protested is a part of the “world chief” job. All an in depth apology does is encourage a horrible particular person to be even worse.

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