THE Turks have a right to feel aggrieved that the German government has made such a public point of banning some of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's security detail from accompanying him to next week's G20 Summit in Hamburg. The men affected have been charged in the US with assault following their repeated attacks on anti-Erdogan demonstrators outside Turkey's Washington embassy when the Turkish president visited last month. Since this incident was filmed by international media there is no doubting that these security agents far exceeded their core duty to protect their president. Their behavior brought their country into disrepute. Yet far from apologizing for what had happened, Turkey actually protested the treatment of the security agents and called in the US ambassador in Ankara. Now this regrettable row between two long-standing allies is one matter. It is quite another to have it carried on by the Germans. The Turkish government could quite reasonably have been asked by Berlin not to include in Erdogan's G20 security detail any of the agents who faced assault charges in Washington. It is likely that Ankara would have complied. Yet Chancellor Angela Merkel's government chose to go public with its expectation that these men not come to Hamburg. This action could be seen as a deliberate provocation. There is a clear risk here that Turkey could feel further isolated by the Europeans and the US at a time when it still has a pivotal role in helping crush Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) in Syria and Iraq. Erdogan, arguably the Turkish republic's most successful politician, has polarized opinion at home and annoyed the Americans and Europeans by his arrest of journalists and the massive clampdown in the wake of the failed Gulenist coup. His creation of a powerful executive presidency for himself suggest that Turkey now has a leader increasingly unwilling to compromise. While this may seem a strength to his supporters, it is also a weakness which can be exploited by his international detractors. If a leader is easily provoked to anger then he can be manipulated into false or disadvantageous positions. Ever since Turkey opened up its economy in the 1980s under Turgut Özal, it has made remarkable strides with strong manufacturing and construction sectors. Yet it is perhaps indicative of the barriers that it has faced that it was also Turgut Özal who made the original application to join the EU. Thirty years on and despite endless talks, Turkey is as far away from EU membership as ever — indeed given the reaction in Brussels to what it rates as human rights abuses and the curtailment of press freedom — it could be argued that Turkish membership prospects are even worse than when it sought to join what was then known as the European Economic Community. The UK, which was the main supporter of Turkish EU accession, no longer has any say in the matter. When he was mayor of Istanbul in the1990s, Erdogan was an amiable and amenable politician who inspired respect, even in his enemies. The man who is now president of Turkey seems a very different person, quick to take offense and quick to condemn. But just because Erdogan has hair-trigger responses, does not mean others should provoke him.
