Turkey is enraged by what it sees as an uncaring reaction from Western associates to the failed putsch, in which 240 individuals were slaughtered.
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European countries have deep voiced concern over Turkey’s crackdown on dissidents, in particular alleged supporters of a religious movement led by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara claims had orchestrated the July 15 coup attempt, which saw at least 270 people killed.
Turkey also hit out at Austria after an electronic news ticker at Vienna International Airport reportedly displayed a Kronen Zeitung newspaper headline saying sexual abuse of children under 15 in Turkey was legal.
Brussels wants Turkey to soften the anti-terrorism law, which Ankara says it can not change, given multiple security threats which include Islamic State militants in neighbouring Syria and Kurdish militants in its mainly Kurdish southeast. Ankara, though, says it can not do so, given multiple security threats which include the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant presence in neighboring Syria and Kurdish fighters in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.
Halting Turkey’s European Union accession process could scupper a landmark migration deal between Brussels and Ankara created to stop illegal migration to Europe via Turkey in return for financial aid, the promise of visa-free travel to much of the bloc and accelerated talks on membership.
A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment on the interview directly but said the EU continued to work together with Turkey in all areas of cooperation.
Turkish authorities have detained, sacked or suspended tens of thousands of people over their alleged links with Fethullah Gulen, a US -based cleric whom the government blames for orchestrating the coup attempt. The ticker read “Turkey allows sex with children under the age of 15”.
The Turkish ambassador to Stockholm was due to meet the Swedish foreign minister on Monday, Cavusoglu said, adding that he would also speak with Wallstrom on the phone.
Cavusoglu said the reports that appeared in Austria and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom’s tweet were a reflection of the “racism, anti-Islamic and anti-Turkish (trend) in Europe”.
Cavusoglu dismissed her comments as “the result of racism and anti-Islam sentiment in Europe …”
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The meeting was organized by Turkey’s embassy in Doha and attended by a number of foreign diplomats and Qatari Foreign Ministry officials. Cavusoglu this month referred to Austria as the “capital of radical racism” after Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggested ending European Union accession talks with Turkey.
