Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered expulsion of ambassadors of United States and nine Western countries who appealed for the release of a jailed civil society leader.
Seven of the ambassadors represent Turkey’s NATO allies and the expulsions, if carried out, would open the deepest rift with the West in Erdogan’s 19 years in power.
“I have ordered our foreign minister to declare these 10 ambassadors as persona non grata as soon as possible,” Erdogan said on Saturday, referring to a term used in diplomacy that signifies the first step before expulsion. He did not set a firm date.
Philanthropist Osman Kavala has been in prison since late 2017, charged with financing nationwide protests in 2013 and with involvement in a 2016 failed coup. He denies the charges.
“They must know and understand Turkey,” Erdogan added, accusing the envoys of “indecency”.
“They must leave here the day they no longer know Turkey,” Erdogan said.
The envoys issued a highly unusual joint statement on Monday saying the continued detention of Parisian-born activist Osman Kavala “cast a shadow” over Turkey.
The US, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden called for a “just and speedy resolution to [Kavala’s] case.”
Jailed 2017, Kavala has become a symbol of the sweeping crackdown Erdogan unleashed after surviving the coup attempt.
The Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights watchdog, had issued a final warning to Turkey to comply with a 2019 European Court of Human Rights order to release Kavala pending trial.
If Turkey fails to do so by its next meeting from November 30 to December 2, the Strasbourg-based council could vote to launch its first disciplinary proceedings against Ankara.
