In search of Turkish delight in ties with U.K.

On Tuesday, a group of demonstrators gathered opposite Downing Street in London, carrying placards dubbing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “dictator”, “murderer” and “puppeteer”. The 64-year-old leader was on a three-day state visit to the U.K. ahead of presidential elections due to take place in Turkey in June.

The visit of Mr. Erdoğan — whose record on tackling dissent and freedom of the press has courted concern globally — was welcomed by Britain in sharp contrast to the position of some of its neighbouring states that have been wary of allowing themselves to be drawn into Turkish domestic politics. Last year, Germany’s Foreign Ministry ruled that foreign officials would not be able to campaign in the country three months before an election or referendum. It was responding largely to concerns about the use of appearances by senior Turkish politicians during visits to Germany (home to a large Turkish population of over three million) ahead of the controversial constitutional referendum. Britain’s Turkish population is far smaller (half a million, according to the latest census data), but Mr. Erdoğan still used the visit to expound his foreign policy priorities in an address to the prestigious think tank Chatham House.

However, it is the issue of trade that dominated the visit. Speaking at Downing Street on Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan spoke of the “great significance” that Turkey accorded to its relationship with Britain, and its welcoming of the transitional arrangements agreed to date between Britain and the EU — likely to be music to the ears of embattled Brexiteers, eager to emphasise the economic clout Britain could have in the future. Britain could be Turkey’s second-largest export market in Europe, Mr. Erdoğan suggested, pointing to aspirations of raising bilateral trade from $16 billion to $20 billion. Last year, during a visit by Prime Minister Theresa May to Ankara, the two countries agreed on a £100-million deal for collaboration on a new fighter jet for Turkey.

There was no mention of the role the “Turkish issue” played in the Brexit referendum — the issue of potential Turkish membership that was raised by different parts of the campaign to leave the EU. The right-wing U.K. Independence Party ran a controversial political broadcast on TV, alleging that the British government wanted Turkey to join the EU.

Ethical foreign policy

However, with pressure domestically on the British government to demonstrate its willingness to embrace an ethical foreign policy (rather than give in to the pulls of trade deals as it has been accused of doing), Ms. May lightly touched on the need to preserve “democratic values” and “international human rights obligations”. Asked by a British journalist about the detention of over 200 journalists by the Turkish government (according to the Index on Censorship, Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of professional journalists while it ranks 157 out of 180 in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index), Mr. Erdoğan opted for denial. He insisted that those who had been detained were not journalists but “vandals” of ATM machines, while some had been “caught red-handed” bearing weapons.

“You have to make a distinction between the journalists and the terrorists,” he said. While Ms. May avoided comment on the issue, his remarks were condemned by democracy campaigners. “Erdoğan illustrates why he’s such a threat to Turkey’s democracy by calling all the journalists he has jailed terrorists,” said Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch.

Vidya Ram works for The Hindu and is based in London