Thomas Gericke

Dear Turkey, this is Europe calling and we demand you to listen carefully. At least Mr. Gül and Mr. Erdo?an should!

We all know what’s going on right now and since last week of May. Even though it’s hard to understand for many, many Turkish people and also for most other countries on this planet, you’re doing some really strange things those days. You might or even might not have thought about your intentions and also about the effects. But you should. You definitely should right now!

We don’t know much about your plans and whether or not the recent events should pave the road to next year’s elections. But we do know several things very well.

• Such as Turkey being member (since 1949) of the Counsil of Europe.
• Such as Turkey being subject to European Laws concerning human rights.
• Such as Turkey working hard on becoming a member of Europe.

Turkey, listen: you haven’t been further away from being an accession candidate than the last few days. At least not in the last decade.

Why don’t you sit tight, relax and let the Turkish people live their live just like they want to? Respect their peaceful protest and negotiate. It ain’t easy, for sure. But it’s worth it.