President Erdoğan: Europe has failed in democracy, human rights and freedoms

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at a mass opening ceremony in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul.

Drawing attention to the chaos on the streets in Europe, President Erdoğan said: “The media is full of images of burning cars, looted shops, and policemen treating the protesters in the harshest way.”

“We have never approved of voicing the demands for rights via violence, and we never will. All kinds of demands and thoughts can be voiced and fought for within democracy. In this regard, we follow with concern the scenes on European streets,” President Erdoğan said. “Let me say one more time; we are against both the chaos caused by the protesters and the disproportionate force used against them. However, the scene shows that Europe has failed in democracy, human rights and freedoms. Those who have provoked anti-refugee sentiments and Islamophobia for the sake of political populism have been caught in their own trap.”

“The walls of security and welfare that they so cherish have started to be shaken not by migrants or Muslims, but by their own citizens,” President Erdoğan underscored. “We have for years warned them not to protect the supporters of the separatist terrorist organization. Now, those supporters are among the leading perpetrators of the chaos. The PKK’s extensions are there, the DHKP-C is there. Whenever we spoke, we told them ‘Terrorism is like a snake; it will eventually bite you’. We are not happy to be right but that is the truth.”