Our European friends have surprised us a great deal lately. For some reason President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan disturbs some. Are they upset due to the facts the European public learned thanks to Erdoğan's statement following the heinous terrorist attacks in Brussels.
Had Erdoğan not announced it, the European public would not have learned that Turkey had apprehended and submitted some DAESH militants to EU countries and that the countries released them, one of whom turned out to be the suicide bomber at Brussels' Maelbeeck metro station. Thanks to Erdoğan, it was revealed that Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands could have apprehended the terrorists and prevented the incidents in Brussels if they had paid attention. Sad but true.
If some EU countries had not rejected cooperation with Turkey in the counterterror fight by considering that Turkey is one of the leading forces actively fighting terror, the DAESH threat would not have grown to such a degree by now.
Do they resent Erdoğan for honestly revealing their faults? Yes, he did that because he is one of the leaders who want the counterterror fight to yield effective results.
Despite that, some approaches to him in Europe have reached a disgraceful degree.
In the countries that complain about DAESH but embrace the outlawed PKK and its Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD) despite the fact that they turn Turkey, Syria and Iraq into a blood bath, a heinous perception operation is being conducted against both Turkey and Erdoğan, who clearly expresses truths.
Particularly in Germany, some state-run TV stations, which maintain their broadcasting activities thanks to the taxes of Turkish-Germans, seemingly regard broadcasting content against Turkey and Erdoğan as a special mission.
Lately, at a TV show broadcast on Germany's second largest state TV station ZDF, a person named Jan Böhmermann said that he would commit a crime according to German laws with his remarks and continued with some hateful words that cannot be accepted by any state of law with democracy. All the foreigners watching the show, particularly Muslims and Turks, had to remember the caricatures, cabarets and films made about Jews during Nazi Germany. Yes, the show was a replica of the Nazi Germany sense of humor, only with the one change that the targets were Erdoğan, Turks and Muslims instead of Jews.
While ZDF had to discontinue broadcasting the show, and while even some German journalists that do not side with Erdoğan harshly criticized the remarks on the show, European Parliament President Martin Schulz's remarks and advice on Erdoğan published by Bild am Sonntag were very unfortunate. I know him well. We have been in the same circle for years. As a matter of fact, I am sure that he would not approve of Böhmermann's inappropriate remarks in any case, which is the saddest part of the story. If disrespectful and inappropriate remarks are defended only because they are against Erdoğan, and if the European Parliament president is also defending them then we can only say that this is a shame.
However, we would expect those who are in charge in the EU to spend at least one-fourth of the energy they spend on opposing Erdoğan to protecting Turks living in Europe in the name of humanity.
PKK militants and proponents, who are protected by Europe under the pretext that they fight against DAESH, who are allowed to set up propaganda tents and freely move across Europe regardless of Interpol search warrants, are attacking Turks on European streets. The PKK militants and proponents, who take courage from Europe's support, including aspirations at European Parliament to remove the PKK from the list of recognized terrorist organizations, are attacking and damaging Turkish associations and mosques in EU countries. They do not limit their attacks only to damaging property, as they also threaten the security of life. Recently, the number of Turks targeted in PKK attacks has climbed. Although we stress due to the context that the victims of the attacks are Turks, we always take into account that people are being harmed regardless of their identities. However, some people in the EU have difficulty noticing that.
Here are several instances of the latest incidents in Germany:
On Sept. 16, 2015, there was an attempt to set an association in Hamm on fire with Molotov cocktails. On Nov. 19, 2015, a mosque was attacked in Cologne. On Jan. 24, 2016, an association was targeted in Leverkusen. On Jan. 31, 2016, an association in Essen was attacked while some people were in the building. On Feb. 19, 2016, there was an attempt to set an association in Munich on fire and PKK slogans were written on the walls of the building. On March 21, 2016, an association in Dinslaken was targeted again by the PKK.
On March 27, 2016, some PKK militants and proponents attacked about 1,000 people, including Turks and Germans, with stones and using guns, who organized a peaceful demonstration in Aschaffenburg to condemn terrorism. Aschaffenburg police had to receive support, and fortunately no casualties were reported.
We have only one wish from Schulz and others, that they must protect Turks who are targeted and should not encourage PKK militants to organize attacks.
No one should try to sell the hideous insults made to Turkey and Erdoğan everyday as part of humor or press freedoms. If such disgraceful and unacceptable remarks targeted the leaders of EU countries, we are sure no one could smugly say that the remarks should be laughed away as they are the indicators of democracy, as Schulz lately did.
We only hope they could soon realize that the hypocritical double standards they have and the disagreeable satires they defend actually force the limits of racism in the EU, and one day they will return like a boomerang and aggrieve themselves.