Appeasement politics weren’t that successful in the past. Think of Hitler and Munich 1938 or Stalin in the thirties and fourties. Therefore I appreciate very much that Mr Draghi called Erdogan a “dictator” on Thursday. That’s clearly his main feature as you can see in his behaviour. Want some samples?
• Everyone who can menace his power is called “terrorist”, even if nice and peaceful people are concerned like Mr Kavala who is only fighting for human rights.
• Elections like that for the mayor of Istanbul are repeated if the outcome is unpleasant for Erdogan.
• To butter up the ultra nationalists Erdogan left the Istanbul Convention recently. This Convention was meant to blame violence against women. The need of protecting women rights can be clearly seen when you consider the hundreds of Turkish women murdered (470 in 2019) or hurt each year.
• Despite having a number of elected MPs the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is effectively detained from exercising its rights of participation.
That’s what sensible people call a dictatorship and Erdogan therefore a “dictator”. Well done, Mr Draghi.