Someone else is not getting it, but in a much different way. As previously discussed, there is a move to close the AKP here for unconstitutional activities—threatening the secularity of the state in particular. Now, I would think that if a bunch of fundamentalist Christians managed to come to power in the EU and started advocating that the Pope become the One True Leader of EU states, more than one EU government would have a problem with that. But apparently I was mistaken.
I guess the really telling quote is, “‘In a normal European democracy, these kind of political issues should be discussed in parliament and decided at the ballot box, not in the courtroom.’” The statement shows that the EU just doesn’t grasp the depth of the issue. For one thing, true democracy does not yet exist in Turkey. And as long as the friends of fundamentalists are in power, it never will. Friends of fundamentalism benefit from, among other things, the ignorance brought about by an underfunded education system, the increasing politicization and desecularization of the available education system, and a technically illegal but still rampant feudal system in the East.
Another aspect that the statement seems to miss is that the AKP has used the holes found in a battered and beaten constitution to make amendments that consolidate their power and guarantee that they can engage in whatever kinds of activities they see fit. More than one totalitarian state has started along similar lines—even some European ones.
In an ideal world, democracies find thier way and correct their mistakes. And sometimes in non-ideal ones as well.
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