Is this anger over the new TCK?

BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH- I wonder what went through the minds of the people who criticized European Commission Representative to Turkey Hansjoerg Kretschmer when they saw the incidents in Istanbul over the weekend. Kretschmer faced rebukes last week when he argued that Turkey had failed to make progress since Dec. 17, when it got a date for its accession talks.
European Union officials expressed concern over what they said was a ‘disproportionate’ use of force by police to break up a demonstration marking International Women`s Day. ‘We were shocked by images of the police beating women and young people demonstrating in Istanbul,’ said a joint statement from Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, Britain`s Europe Minister Denis MacShane and Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for enlargement. What would happen if the EU leaders had asked our leaders yesterday ‘Is this your idea of harmonization to the EU acquis?’ How could possibly we answer this question? Not only their joint statement denounced us, but also the European media leapt at the opportunity to bolster anti-Turkish views. ‘Will we really allow this country to join our ranks?’ asked the European media. Our Secretary-General for EU Affairs Murat Sungar had previously said that the police were in the process of being educated and trained on human rights issues. If this was the attitude of educated policemen, I really don’t want to see how the uneducated ones act! I guess this was the retaliation of our security forces for the new Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which will considerably reduce their rights. Please don’t forget that the EU is very serious on the implementation issue. EU leaders have stipulated that Turkey must immediately eliminate all of the shortcomings in the implementation of the reforms. The EU is now threatening to suspend Croatia’s negotiations, which are supposed to begin on March 14, because the country has refused to surrender a war criminal. If we fail to do what it demands of us, the EU won’t blink an eye before changing its mind on Turkey’s accession talks…