BY HAKKI DEVRIM
RADIKAL- Claudia Roth is well known in Turkey. She is Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid and is also chair of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group. During her recent visit to Turkey, Roth met with Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. She expressed her pleasure with recent developments in Turkey in its bid for European Union membership.
Knowing full well that she wouldn’t be allowed in, Roth took a bouquet of flowers to Ankara’s Ulucanlar Prison. They didn’t let her in. She left the flowers at the door and told her concerns to the press, and left after the show was over. We are becoming Europeans, therefore we must get used to such things.
One German parliamentarian in the visiting group headed by Roth told Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Germany could restart selling guns to Turkey, thus ending a ban imposed due to Turkey’s human rights violations. Erdogan replied by saying that he is against armaments, that the reason for terrorism is poverty, and that peace is more important. This was a good reply. Now look at the German delegation’s friendship trip to Ankara from this perspective. While the chair of the delegation offers flowers to Zana, who was sentenced for ‘staging separatist activities both in Turkey and abroad in line with orders and directives of leaders of the terrorist group PKK,’ another member says that Turkey will soon be able to buy guns from Germany. One should ask: What for?