The campaign aimed at Turkey and its legitimate, elected president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Europe threatens political ethics in general as well as freedom of thought and expression.

Criticizing the PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organization in academia, the media and the public sphere by the U.S. and the EU or objecting to the Gülenist soldiers' July 15 coup attempt is enough for someone to be labeled an "Erdoturk" and isolated.

There is no logical ground for this atmosphere of hostility, which is reminiscent of Europe's inquisition era. Firstly, those who resisted the Gülenist coup attempt in Turkey or who consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization are not just Erdoğan's supporters who elected him with 52 percent of the vote. Those who laid down in front of tanks were people of different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds.

Survey results reveal that more than 90 percent of Turkey's population defines the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the PKK as terrorist groups that threaten national security. From the perspective of "the ghost of inquisition that is haunting Europe these days," almost all of Turkey's population are Erdoturks.

Secondly, and even more importantly, why would it be a "criminal act" to defend the opinions of Erdoğan, the legitimate elected political leader of a NATO member and a prospective EU member country that is a party to all agreements in the international community?

It is a de facto crime requiring a criminal sanction to defend the views of Turkey's most legitimate political player in many European cities. One of the most recent and most tragic examples of this was seen in the Dutch GroenLinks party several days ago. A Turkish-Dutch politician named İlhan Tekir was dismissed from his party without even being asked his opinion on the grounds that he supported Erdoğan's civilian-orientated, democratic attitude toward the coup makers in a statement he made to the Volkskrant newspaper last month.

GroenLinks Chair Marjolein Meijer said the standpoint of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was diametrically op

posed to the views of her party, noting that Tekir was dismissed for this reason. She also said similar remarks made by parliament members would lead to troubles within the party and to the loss of the credibility of that member.

Rightfully, Tekir was surprised to be dismissed. He said, "This decision is not compatible with the principle of freedom of expression, one of the basic elements of GroenLinks, of which I have been a member for 10 years."

Here is the 21st century's example of European civilization, which paid a heavy price for common human values, such as freedom of expression, democracy and human rights. Moreover, those we are complaining about are not xenophobic and Islamophobic orientalists, but leftist green political party members who claim that they are on the side of dialogue, brotherhood, internationalism and integration.

All brave libertarians of Europe must break the chains of community pressure and act in unison against this discriminatory and arrogant wave that inevitably brings to mind the pressure and censorship of Nazi Germany. Otherwise, fascism, which is escalating through an anti-Erdoğan attitude today, will devour all the diversity of Europe, including leftists and greens.