Serious problems in Turkey's image abroad

There is just one good piece of news regarding Turkish foreign policy nowadays, but there are many bad ones that have stained the outlook on Turkey when evaluated from abroad.

That single good piece of news is that Turkey's relations with the European Union have been given another chance after President Tayyip Erdoğan's discussions in Brussels on May 25 both with the top EU officials and leaders of influential European countries like Germany, France and Britain, on the sidelines of the NATO summit there.

The fact that the European leaders have had meetings with Erdoğan was a relief for all; a breakup could have had disastrous consequences both for Turkey and the EU as Turkey's southern borders with Iraq and Syria are in flames, while a spillover into Turkey could have huge effects on terrorism and migration. 

On the other hand, it is possible to conclude from the words of Erdoğan (please read Fikret Bila's report in the HDN's top story) that none of those talks occurred in a comfortable atmosphere. It seem that they were dominated by European criticism over the deterioration of rights and freedoms in Turkey under the state of emergency and Turkish criticism over the lack of solidarity against terrorism.

The 12-month plan that European leaders have given Erdoğan and which will be examined by the Turkish government is likely to contain not only the steps that the EU has to take to honor the migration agreement (like visa flexibilities and opening up new accession chapters) but also steps that Turkey has to take, especially in the area of rights and freedoms. Those steps could be interpreted as improvements in the state of emergency like mass detentions, mass dismissals from public jobs, judicial independence and media freedom.
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