Erdogan vs. Rasmussen

Denmark’s prime Minister Rasmussen’s appointment as NATO general secretary was recently threated by a Veto from Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s Prime Minister explained his objection with the Mohammed’s  newspaper caricatures from 2006. Issued by the Danish Jullands Posten, the contoversial drawings provoked waves of protest all over the Islamic world- Turkey not excluded.  And now the conservative Erdogan is openly accusing Rasmussen of not doing enough to prevent or sanction Mohammed’s caricatures. But isn’t it strange for  a prime minister of an EU applicant-country to be accusing another prime minister for not stopping or sanctioning a newspaper? After all press freedom and freedom of opinion are some of the major criteria a country has to stick to, in order to join the European community.

Roj TV constitutes another part of the diplomatic problem. The Kurdish Broadcaster targets primarily turkish Kurds, but operates from Denmark. Turkish authorities have been constantly trying to ban the TV Station, accusing it of close relationships to PKK. So far without any success. However, the situation is about to change, with Rasmussen  sending two senior prosecutors to Ankara to discuss shutting down Roj TV. He personally rejects any relation of his action to Еrdogan’s veto threat, but we all know that nothing in diplomacy is done for free.

For further Information: FAZ (31.03.09) and medianetwork

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