4 ms·

I don't think Erdogan gives a f* if US pressurizes him to follow democratic procedures, considering how he dealt with the Washington DC protests. Plus Turkey is

• dalbasal 8y ago
  IDK... Erdogan is far more of a "pulpit bully" than he was. At the start of his reign he was negotiating for EU membership, and topics like that were firmly on the table. In fact he absorbed all sorts of slights and insults before finally giving up. Some of those were genuine slights, double standard requirements that were not being asked of christian majority countries. This incident though, it really reflects a certain diplomatic norm, a quid quo pro, transnational diplomacy. I know the "Pastor Affair" is largely just an excuse or trigger for this argument. But, he was arrested and trialed kangaroo style, as were thousands of people picked up during the last major purge. The US asked to have their (almost certainly falsely convicted) citizen back. Turkey treated this as a good opportunity for a quid quo pro transaction. You want this priest back. We want things too. How about you extradite some dissidents. We'll release you innocent priest. That transnational norm is... normal. IE, the US deals this way in the middle east. I realize diplomacy will always have very big realpolitik aspects to it. I realize that moralizing and such are no basis for diplomatic relations. But, if you stop even paying lip service to the idea of values, morals and such.... I think you lose out of that too.