The PACE Flop

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has issued a statement expressing worry over the AKP closure case. Almost all in Europe and the news would mean little save for an accusation that the statement was elicited by the head of the Turkish delegation to PACE, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. According to PACE President Luis Maria De Puig, the statement was issued at the behest of Çavuşoğlu, a charge that he denies. Opposition members in PACE then chastised Çavuşoğlu and said that the parliamentary committee as a whole did not request Puig to issue the statement. The whole affair is embarrassing for AKP, but perhaps more ridiculous is the enormous fuss AKP opposition parties are making, using the incident to criticize AKP's use of foreign diplomatic pressure in what they argue is purely a domestic issue.