BRUSSELS – Secretary of State John F. Kerry said NATO will be scrutinizing Turkey in coming days to ensure that it fulfills the alliance’s requirements for democracy and the rule of law following a failed coup attempt.
“NATO also has a requirement with respect to democracy,” Kerry told reporters after European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned Turkey not to execute coup plotters. She noted that countries with the death penalty cannot join the European Union, as Turkey, a NATO member, has sought to do.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said that while NATO will be watching Turkey carefully, “it’s too soon to say that their membership is at risk.”
Kerry said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has repeatedly assured him that the government will respect democracy and the law. Kerry warned that NATO will “measure” its actions.
“Obviously a lot of people have been arrested and arrested very quickly,” Kerry said. “The level of vigilance and scrutiny is obviously going to be significant in the days ahead. Hopefully we can work in a constructive way that prevents a backsliding.”
Friday’s attempted coup in Turkey has turned what was expected to be a routine meeting of the European Council into crisis management. Virtually every diplomat attending the meeting expressed concern, even alarm, over the Turkish government’s arrests of thousands of judges and members of the armed forces in a purge that continued Monday.
Many Europeans fear that the crackdown could unleash a new wave of refugees fleeing persecution in Turkey. It also threatens a recent agreement in which Turkey agreed to take back some Syrian refugees, a policy aimed at reducing the number of Syrians crossing the Mediterranean to Greece. But the crackdown could prompt refugees to argue that they would not be protected in Turkey and should not be sent back.
For the E.U., Turkey’s position on the death penalty is a key indicator of human rights and rule of law.
On Sunday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told crowds of supporters demanding the death penalty for coup plotters that Turkey’s parliament should consider reinstating the practice it abolished in 2004.
Virtually every diplomat attending the meeting issued a stern warning to Erdogan.
Austria’s E.U. commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said Erdogan’s crackdown “is exactly what we feared.” He said the arrest of thousands of judges over the weekend looked “like something that had been prepared.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned Erdogan against growing more “authoritarian.”
