Turkey and the European Union
土耳其和欧盟
Media freedom RIP?
舆论自由的末日?
A fresh round of arrests takes relations with the European Union to a new low
新一轮的媒体洗牌让土耳其和欧盟的关系达到了冰点。
“WE HAVE no concern about what the EU might say, whether the EU accepts us as members or not.” The latest outburst from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, sent the lira down by 4% against the dollar amid growing worries over the direction the country is taking.
土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安近期极为愤怒地宣称:“土耳其并不关心欧盟会做出怎样的表态,他们接不接受我们成为欧盟的一员都无所谓!”而他的这一举动再次让里拉对美金的汇率降低了3%,这加剧了人们对于这个国家走上不归路的担忧。
Mr Erdogan was responding to a rebuke by the European Union over arrests on December 14th of a police chief, journalists and soap-opera screenwriters linked to Fethullah Gulen, a Sunni cleric based in Pennsylvania. The EU's foreign-affairs boss, Federica Mogherini, and enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, warned that Turkey's hopes of becoming a member depended on “full respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights.” They called the arrests “incompatible with the freedom of media, which is a core principle of democracy”. Mr Erdogan said the EU should “mind its own business and keep its opinions to itself”.
埃尔多安的愤怒是对欧盟指责的强硬回应——欧盟对于土耳其当局12月14日时逮捕一批和法土拉 ?葛兰(一位定居在美国宾夕法尼亚州的知名逊尼派学者)有关系人士(其中包括一名警察局局长,一些新闻工作者和一些影视编剧)的行为进行了谴责。欧盟外长费代丽卡·莫盖里尼以及扩张委员会专员约翰内斯·哈恩警告土耳其,如果希望加入欧盟,前提条件必须是“尊重法制和基本人权。”在他们看来这次逮捕行为是“严重违背舆论自由原则的,而这恰恰是一个民主国家所必须具备的。”埃尔多安则表示欧盟应该“先收拾好自己的烂摊子并且先想想自身是否做到了这一点。”
The arrests mark an escalation in Mr Erdogan's unremitting war against Mr Gulen and his followers. He insists they have set up “a parallel state” with the goal of overthrowing his Justice and Development (AK) party government. Until his fall from grace, the preacher was AK's unofficial ally. Critics say Gulenists in the security forces and the judiciary helped to forge evidence against hundreds of Turkish army officers charged with fomenting a coup.
这次逮捕行动意味着埃尔多安和葛兰以及他的追随者之间不断的战争正式升级。他坚称葛兰和他的同党们以推翻他的正义与发展党政府为目标,建立了一个“平行政府”。但是在葛兰失去宠信之前,他一直是AK党非官方的盟友。批评家认为潜伏在安全部队和司法机构中的葛兰派人士伪造了大量证据去诬陷那些土耳其军官煽动政变。
Thousands of them have now been arrested or purged on similar charges. A power struggle between AK and the Gulenists erupted a year ago when a corruption probe implicated Mr Erdogan's inner circle. Mr Erdogan quashed the investigation, reassigning the prosecutors and police involved and vowing to destroy the “fake prophet” and his flock. His targets included Bank Asya, an Islamic finance house. Public trading in Asya was suspended three times and government-linked firms withdrew deposits. The bank's assets shrank by 40% in the first nine months of 2014. “Anyone who pisses off the president is a potential target,” comments one banker.
现在,成千上万的葛兰派人士因相似的罪名遭到逮捕或监禁。这场“权力之争”源于一年之前,一起腐败调查牵涉到埃尔多安的核心集团。埃尔多安当时就叫停了这次调查,并且重新指任了所有涉及的检举人和警方人员,并且立誓要消灭那些“骗子”和他们的党羽。他的众多目标中还包括了一所伊斯兰教金融机构—土耳其银行。政府三次暂停该银行的公开交易业务,与政府有关的公司也撤出在其中的资产。2014年的前9个月中该行的资产下滑了40%之多。一位银行从业者表示“所有惹恼总统的人都可能被盯上。”
The case against the journalists, including Ekrem Dumanli, editor of Zaman, Turkey's biggest daily, is hazy. Istanbul's prosecutor, Hadi Salihoglu, said warrants had been issued against 31 people on charges of “establishing a terrorist group”. Turkish newspapers say they are accused of conspiring against a rival Islamic fraternity whose leader was arrested in 2009 on charges of belonging to al-Qaeda. Mr Gulen's instructions to followers to move against the group were reportedly given in coded language in Zaman and “Tek Turkiye”, a nationalist soap opera aired on Samanyolu, a Gulenist television channel.
这次针对记者的逮捕让人非常疑惑,包括土耳其最大的日报——Zaman日报主编Ekrem Dumanli 在内的很多人都被卷入其中。伊斯坦布尔的检察官Hadi Salihoglu表示已经有31人被批准以“建立恐怖组织”的罪名起诉。土耳其的新闻媒体表示他们因筹建一个像之前伊斯兰兄弟会这样组织而被起诉,后者的领导人在2009年因被指控与基地组织有关系而遭到逮捕。据报道,葛兰在Zaman日报和以萨马为背景的Tek Turkiye(土耳其国民级电视剧)中,通过一些“密语”来给他的追随者们传递指令。
Mr Erdogan has become more paranoid since the Gezi Park protests of June 2013. He blamed a global “interest-rate lobby” of Western bankers, foreign spies and media wanting to oust AK. The Gulenists have been added to the lobby; the graft scandal is just another arrow in its quiver. Now the EU, which Turkey supposedly wants to join, seems to be on the list, too.
埃尔多安在2013年6月的Gezi广场抗议之后变得更加偏执。他将一切归咎于妄图推翻AK党的西方银行家,外国间谍和一些媒体的“利率游说团”。葛兰派已经“加入”了这一群体,诬陷只是他箭筒中的另一支箭羽而已。而现在,土耳其一度想要加入的欧盟似乎也成为了“猎杀名单”上的又一目标。译者:曾擎禹 校对:胡雅琳