Brussels remains silent on Turkey's "joke democracy"

Following the confirmation of the ban on headscarves at Turkish universities, there is now a serious possibility that Turkey's ruling party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), could also be banned. The Dutch daily writes: "Unfortunately so far there has been no clear reaction from Brussels. What kind of a joke democracy do they have on the other side of the Bosporus? And how can we trust 'European democracy' if it does not have immediate consequences? It must be clear that if the AKP, which was voted into power by 47 percent of the population, is banned by the constitutional court, then the EU must break off all negotiations, and it should therefore issue a serious warning to Ankara now. If it does not, the Irish have every reason to reject the new European treaty, because this would mean that all those wonderful democratic standards and values which the advocates of the treaty praise so highly are worthless."

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