EU Gives Erdoğan A Boost

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received a VIP welcome in Brussels earlier this week by the Belgian authorities, and the leaders of a few EU institutions -- Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, and Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.
Given the democratic back peddling in Turkey including the erosion of the rule of law and civil liberties and freedoms, it is unlikely that Erdoğan would have received such a welcome one year or even six months ago. However, the Syrian refugee crisis has changed the lay of the land. It has become a burning problem for Europe and increasingly apparent that a solution to the crisis can only be found with the full support and cooperation of Turkey. It seems that the EU is ready to forget about democracy and all the values for which it apparently stands -- and forget that some 24 hours before Erdoğan's visit the body of a Kurd was tied and dragged behind a police vehicle in Şırnak -- if Turkey agrees to keep the majority of the refugees.
Prior to Erdoğan's visit, steps towards creating an action plan on regulating the flow of refugees to Europe were already under way. Basically it seemingly entails the creation of new refugee camps, and coordinated border controls between Turkey and Greece with coastguards working together to patrol the eastern Aegean Sea, coordinated by Frontex, the EU's border control agency. At the same time, some 500,000 refugees would be relocated to Europe from Turkey. This plan was discussed with Erdoğan and further progress is expected in the coming days with Germany, which is expected to accept the majority of the new refugees, taking the lead. At the same time, the EU also underlined that it was ready to help Ankara with significant financial assistance as well as speeding up the easing of visa requirements for Turkish citizens, which was an important issue for Erdoğan.
There was clearly next to no discussion over Turkey's dismal internal situation. According to Schulz, Erdoğan did not place the issue of media freedom very high on the agenda during the exchange, and clearly the EU did not push him on the issue. It seems the EU basically brushed the topic under the carpet for the sake of not upsetting Erdoğan despite the very worrying crackdown on press freedom and independent journalism. This has included a growing number of journalists being accused of insulting the president, which can result in five years in jail, raids on newspaper offices and the recent physical attack by Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters on Ahmet Hakan, a columnist at the Hürriyet daily.
The gist of the EU's approach seems to be that it wants to accept as few refugees as possible and it is seemingly ready to offer Turkey not only a huge wad of cash, but also seemingly prepared to keep rather tight-lipped over Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian style of governance. This new state of affairs will be delighting Erdoğan. While these new developments are unlikely to result in the EU taking any steps to advance Turkey's stalled membership bid in any meaningful way, this is unlikely to bother Erdoğan and the AKP. Firstly because this process has already served its purpose in terms of empowering the AKP and Erdoğan, and secondly because as long as they secure tangible benefits, not least regarding the free visa regime, they can use it to their advantage in the run-up to the Nov. 1 parliamentary elections.
All in all, I think Erdoğan would have left Brussels a happy man. At a time when Erdoğan's political future is at stake the EU gave him a boost. He was treated like a king and faced no criticism over his increasingly authoritarian and polarizing style of governance, with the EU sending the message -- one of Erdoğan's favorite slogans -- that the EU needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the EU. It will be very interesting to see if this new approach is reflected in the forthcoming European Commission 2015 progress report. In reality, this year's should be harsher than the last one, which warned Turkey of the deteriorating situation in judicial and media freedom and the quality of democracy in the country. Let's wait and see.

AMANDA PAUL (Cihan/Today's Zaman)