The Economist - UK (2022-04-30)

30 Europe The Economist April 30th 2022

W

henrussiainvadedUkraineon

February24th,someformerEuro­

peanheadsofgovernmenthurriedto

erasetheirpersonalbusinesslinkstothe

country.EskoAho,ChristianKernand

MatteoRenzi—one­timeleadersofFin­

land,AustriaandItalyrespectively—quit

prominentrolesontheboardsofbig

Russianfirms.NotsoGerhardSchröder.

Germany’sformerchancellorhasre­

tainedhisseatasheadofthesupervisory

boardofRosneft,a Russianoilgiant.He

isnominatedtojointheboardofGaz­

prom,thestate­controlledgasexporter.

Since 2016 hehasbeenchairmanofNord

Stream2,an$11bngaspipelinethat

wouldhavedoubledtheunderseaflowof

gasbetweenRussiaandGermany(Olaf

Scholz,thecurrentchancellor,pulledthe

plugonit inFebruary).

Whyhastheonce­respectedleader

stayedsoclosetoRussia?MrSchröder,a

politicianfromtheSocialDemocratic

Party(spd), achievedmuchforhiscoun­

try.A packageofreformsimplementedin

theearly2000stransformedGermany

from“thesickmanofEurope”into

itseconomicengine.Hewasalsoa vocal

advocateofOstpolitik, a longstanding

policyofrapprochementwiththeeast­

ernblocdatingbacktotheSovietUnion.

Oneelementoftheidea,whichsurvived

thereunificationofGermanyin1990,

wastobindRussiainanenergypartner­

shipofmutualdependencewithEurope.

ForyearsGermanleadersacrossthe

spectrumbelievedinWandeldurchHan-

del,orpoliticalchangethroughtrade.

ManyGermanRusslandversteher(“Russia

understanders”)recantedafterRussia

annexedCrimeain2014—oratthevery

leastafterthisyear’sattackonUkraine.

MrSchröderhasnot.

Thehigh­livingchancellor’senduring

linkstoRussiaareaboutmorethan

stubbornadherencetoa flawedideology.

MrSchröderhasearnedmillionsfrom

hiscorporatepositions.Hehasalso

forgeda closefriendshipwithVladimir

Putin,Russia’sGerman­speakingpresi­

dent.ThepaircelebratedMrSchröder’s

60thand70thbirthdays,inHanoverand

StPetersburgrespectively.

MrSchrödercouldhavebeenremem­

beredasoneofthegreatchancellors.As

it is,hewillbeknownasMrPutin’s

lobbyist.SaskiaEsken,thespd’s co­

leader,hascalledforhimtoquitthe

party,whichhasbeguntheslowprocess

ofrevokinghismembership.Heresigned

hishonorarycitizenshipofHanover,his

hometown,beforethecitycouldstrip

himofit.TheofficialspdshopinBerlin

hasevenwithdrawnitsredGerhard

Schrödercoffeemugfromsale.Noneof

thishasprickedMrSchröder’scon­

science.Assumingthathehasone.

GerhardSchröder

From chancellor to chancer

B ERLIN

WhyGermany’sformerleaderwon’tunfriendVladimirPutin

Forsale

Turkey

“Judicial

assassination”

O

verthecourseofthewarinUkraine,

Turkey’s government has earned some

goodwill in the West by publicly opposing

Russia’s  invasion  and  by  providing  Uk­

raine  with  armed  drones.  On  April  25th  a

lot  of  that  goodwill  went  up  in  smoke,

when  a  court  in  Istanbul  handed  Osman

Kavala,  one  of  Turkey's  most  respected

civil­society  activists,  a  life  sentence  for

“attempting  to  overthrow”  the  country’s

government  during  protests  almost  a  de­

cade ago. Seven other defendants, accused

of  aiding  Mr  Kavala,  were  sentenced  to  18

years each.

Two of those people, Can Atalay, a law­

yer, and Mucella Yapici, an architect, stood

inside  the  courtroom  facing  a  crowd  of

shocked  onlookers,  some  of  them  wiping

away tears, moments after hearing the ver­

dict. “They will now take us to Silivri,” Mr

Atalay  shouted,  referring  to  a  notorious

prison  on  the  outskirts  of  Istanbul.  “But

know  that  we  will  not  bow  to  tyranny.”  In

his closing statement, Mr Kavala, speaking

by video link, called the case a “judicial as­

sassination”. 

Even by the standards of Turkey’s judi­

ciary, which tends to do the government’s

bidding, the prosecution of Mr Kavala has

been  a  farce.  The  evidence  against  him

should have been laughed out of court. The

prosecution depended not only on unsub­

stantiated speculation but also on a wilful

blurring of protest with treacherous insur­

rection. Mr Kavala was first arrested in late

2017  for  his  involvement  in  the  Gezi  Park

protests which had engulfed the country in

2013. He maintained that he had supported
the protests (and attended them), but had
no  role  in  organising  them,  much  less  in
trying  to  overthrow  the  government.  De­
spite  the  authorities’  efforts  to  depict  his
gift  of  some  pastries  to  the  protesters  as
proof of his treasonous intentions, he was
acquitted  in  2020.  But  he  was  rearrested
hours  later  on  separate  but  equally  pre­
posterous charges related to a violent coup
attempt  against  Turkey’s  president,  Recep
Tayyip  Erdogan,  in  2016.  An  appeals  court
then overturned the acquittals in the Gezi
Park case, paving the way for the retrial that
has just concluded. 
When  the  European  Court  of  Human
Rights (echr) ordered Mr Kavala’s release,
Turkey’s  government  refused  to  comply
even though its membership of the Coun­
cil of Europe requires it to do so. When the
American ambassador to Turkey and nine

of his European colleagues urged the gov­

ernment  to  abide  by  the  echrruling,  Mr

Erdogan  ordered  them  out  of  the  country,

though he later relented.

The  verdict  will  damage  relations  be­

tween  Turkey  and  its  Western  allies  fur­

ther.  America’s  response  to  the  ruling,  a

statement  calling  Mr  Kavala’s  conviction

“unjust”  and  an  example  of  “judicial  ha­

rassment  of  civil  society”,  was  even  more

harshly  phrased  than  the  one  that  almost

got  its  envoy  kicked  out  last  year.  euoffi­

cials have also condemned the decision.

The verdict may be a preview of things

to  come.  The  case  against  Mr  Kavala  and

his  colleagues  has  less  to  do  with  the

events  of  2013  than  with  those  of  2023,

when  Turkey  will  hold  presidential  and

parliamentary  elections.  These  are  likely

to  be  the  toughest  of  Mr  Erdogan’s  career.

Turkey’s strongman now trails his rivals in

the polls, largely as a result of his eccentric

economic  policies,  which  have  burdened

Turkey  with  an  inflation  rate  of  over  60%

and a collapsing lira. Rather than attempt­

ing to fix the economy,it very much looks

as though Mr Erdoganhas decided to step

up his repression.n

I STANBUL

A Turkish court sentences an activist

to life in prison