Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered the questions and criticisms of the Europeans in his speech at the House of Representatives of the European Commission in Strasbourg on Wednesday 1/24/1390.
Regarding the 10% quorum for Turkish political parties to enter the Parliament of this country and Europe’s request to lower it, Erdogan stated that it is up to the people of his country to evaluate this issue and if the people want to lower the quorum and Turkey needs opinions. Europe does not have it in this field, as his party also entered the parliament with the same quorum only 16 months after its establishment and came to power alone.
In his speech, the Prime Minister of Turkey, criticizing France’s stance against Turkey’s membership in the European Union, stated that Turkey rejects this approach, because Turkey is a republic, not a tribal government.
In another part of his speech, Erdogan criticized France for expelling minorities from this country and noted that the Turkish government has opened its arms to all minorities in this country.
Also, in response to the criticism of lack of respect for other religions in Turkey, he mentioned the treatment of Westerners with religious minorities, especially Muslims in European countries.
Criticizing the intensification of the process of alignments in Europe and recalling the Crusades and its cultural effects, the Prime Minister of Turkey stated that those who read history through wars and are able to heal the wounds caused by the Crusades They are not, they will not be able to establish world peace.
Erdoğan also pointed out that the laic regime in Turkey was imitated from France and that this system was suppressed in Turkey for many years and stood like a wall in front of democracy, and further pointed out that the revision of laicism in Turkey has become a tool to limit freedoms. But it must be said that putting pressure on people’s beliefs has not been successful at any point in history.
Regarding the candidacy of veiled Muslim women for parliament and the reason for not introducing this group of Turkish society in the list of candidates of the Justice and Development Party, the Prime Minister of Turkey claimed that, compared to the past, a suitable environment for veiled women in Turkey has been provided. But this issue should not be used as a reason for banning the elections.
In this regard, Erdoğan strongly criticized the American government because of the behavior of the embassy of this country in Ankara towards his daughter-in-law and daughter, who came to get visas, and the request of the embassy officials to remove their hijab.
Regarding the opening of Turkey’s border with Armenia, Erdoğan emphasized the rights of the Armenian people. Here, Turkey will not allow the rights of the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan to be violated by the Armenian government.
He stated that Armenia is afraid of the Armenian diaspora and if it overcomes this fear, the problem will be solved.
In another part of his speech, in response to the questions of the European representatives, he accused them of ignorance of information about Turkey.
