Turkish government has criticised what it has described as France‘s ’double standards’ following the French court’s conviction of the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for embezzling European public funds to finance her party. The sentence, which includes a fine of 100,000 euros and disqualification from holding public office for 5 years, will prevent her from standing in the French presidential elections of 2027, in which she was the clear favourite to win against Macron, her main rival.
In statements made to the Turkish media by Ömer Çelik, the spokesman for the Justice and Development Party or AKP (the political party with a majority in the Turkish parliament, led by Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan), he said that ‘without doubt this is a double standard’ in reference to the opinions expressed by French President Emmanuel Macron last week, in which he criticised the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on serious corruption charges and spoke of ‘threats and aggression’ and ‘systematic persecution’ against the Turkish opposition, saying that Europe needs a Turkey ‘on the democratic path’.
Following his disqualification, Le Pen has not hesitated to speak of an attack on the rule of law and a ‘political sentence’ from the Court of Paris to prevent her from participating in the elections. ‘Investigations into corruption in the European Union are carried out very systematically; however, for some reason, while these investigations are carried out with great sensitivity within the EU, there is a critical view when they are carried out in non-EU countries,’ added Çelik.
‘These (charges against Le Pen) are important because her party has become stronger in recent years, and Le Pen was Macron’s biggest rival. But due to the corruption investigation, she has been politically disqualified. There have been several similar examples in the past in French politics,’ said the AKP spokesman, who referred to examples of other French politicians tried for corruption, like Sarkozy.
‘The statements made by Macron and others follow a pattern that is often used against Turkey. For Mr Macron, the contradiction is that when there is an investigation into corruption in France, this is considered a matter of principle and the protection of democracy. But if the same thing happens in a non-EU country (Turkey), then it is perceived as a lack of democracy. This is a double standard,’ denounced Çelik, who also referred to criticism in the EU about the independence of the courts in Turkey: ’We have a very clear proposal: open the chapters relating to the judiciary in our accession negotiations with the EU. We are ready.’
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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