Blog:No Turkish Delight
From Bolton Interweb
Lady Boyes, Royal Correspondent, 16 September 2009
According to The Sun today, the Turkish government are apparently starting the first steps to extraditing the Duchess of York, Fergie, for allegedly breaching Turkey's privacy laws in covertly filming children tied to beds, something that would be considered child abuse here, inside state-run orphanages. The Sun says that Turkish Social Affairs Minister Nimet Cubukcu was quoted at the time as saying "It is very clear that Mrs Sarah Ferguson has bad intentions. She is obviously in a campaign to blacken Turkey's name." If extradited and convicted, Fergie could face over 4 years in prison under laws that are clearly designed to discourage the kind of undercover reporting that is necessary in decent democratic societies to counter state wrongdoing.
If the story is true, and the Home Office are refusing to confirm or deny an official approach from Turkey, it has to be hoped that they will be told to go to hell, and sort out their orphanages rather than trying to suppress the exposure of state-sanctioned child abuse. But that is forlorn hope - the idea that the UK will face down bullying and immoral behaviour by a "friendly" foreign government is sadly not going to happen. There simply is little or no morality in British foreign policy.
But this is also a state with aspirations of EU membership, of joining the mass of European democratic societies as equals. If this incident is anything to go by, even if just the response of Minister Cubukcu given the extradition moves are not confirmed, then it must be proof beyond doubt that Turkey is simply not ready, and will not be so for generations to come. Their aspirations should be well and truly dashed. Again, such action is highly unlikely, though quite why we would want to court a country with a dubious human rights record is totally beyond me. What is this greater good that means we have to sacrifice principles and morals? Whatever it is, it dirties us. Turkey's name is blackened only by its disgraceful behaviour towards disabled orphans, and its reprehensible response to the exposure of that behaviour.
This is to say nothing of the insult towards the UK. Fergie, as mother of two of the Queen's grandchildren, one of whom accompanied her into the orphanage concerned, may not be a national treasure but to try and extradite and jail a person so close to our Head of State is just not on. And I'm a republican so that is a pretty difficult position to take. But it is true - the threat cannot do anything but cause distress and worry to our Head of State on behalf of her granddaughters and unquestionably the Turks are fully aware of that. So it is a deliberate insult we should not dismiss.
Another source reported that, at the time of the documentary, Cubukcu had said that Turkey was probing all kinds of "human rights abuses and misuse of authority" in the institutions visited by the Duchess. "Our ministry has no tolerance at all for rights abuses in the institutions". Well Fergie did them a favour by pointing them in the right direction and she should be being thanked by the Turkish government, not persecuted by them.
The chances of them doing so are zero but it is about time our Government started to act as if it knows right from wrong. Dismiss any Turkish approaches, actively block their EU aspirations until they sort themselves out and can genuinely call themselves a decent and democratic society that respects the rights of journalists and children, and campaign for a boycott of Turkish goods and of Turkey as a holiday destination. Decency and respect for human rights isn't something you have to progress slowly towards, it is something you can implement immediately.
© Evrose, 2010
