Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Brussels this week for a visit of critical importance for Turkey-EU relations. I was among the journalists who covered the visit, reporting for Milliyet and taking notes for Al-Monitor. I had the opportunity to talk to Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu both en route from Ankara to Brussels and on the way back.
Erdogan held important talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Manuel Barroso and European parliament Speaker Martin Schulz. In just one day, he attended three important meetings, two news briefings and two conferences. He conveyed striking messages to his interlocutors concerning the Dec. 17 anti-corruption operation and the “parallel state” — the term he uses to describe Gulenists acting autonomously within the state. In his meeting with Barroso, which the EU official described as a “sincere” conversation, Erdogan talked about controversial rulings by the Fethullah Gulen-controlled judiciary. In my opinion, though, the Erdogan government mishandled the misdeeds of Gulenist prosecutors and judges in the past, and Turkey is now paying the price of those mistakes.
