00:01These scenes have shocked many across Turkey.
00:05Riot police seem forcing their way into the headquarters of the CHP, the country's largest opposition party.
00:12They use water cannons and tear gas against the party's resisting supporters.
00:17But apart from a few tweets and statements expressing concern, Europe's response has been remarkably restrained. Why?
00:24Nacho Sanchez-Amor is the European Parliament's lead expert on Turkey.
00:30He's been tracking the country's democratic record and its long-stalled bid to join the European Union.
00:36The silence is the result of a bad assessment of the whole relation with Turkey.
00:41The level of repression is so black until clear that it's not a minor signal of going backwards. It's a
00:50trend.
00:50The confrontation did not come out of nowhere. Opposition parties in Turkey have faced years of mounting pressure.
00:57A controversial court ruling in May is nearly the latest flashpoint.
01:01It removed CHP leader Özgür Özel and reinstated former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who lost the 2023 presidential election to Erdogan.
01:11Critics see the decision as part of a wider crackdown on the opposition.
01:15In the past two years, hundreds of CHP politicians and officials have been arrested over alleged corruption charges,
01:22among them Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Ä°mamoÄŸlu.
01:25He was widely regarded as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's strongest challenger.
01:30But Turkey is still officially a candidate for EU membership.
01:33So what's driving Europe's silence?
01:35Part of the answer is geopolitics. Turkey has NATO's second largest military and controls access to the Black Sea.
01:43Crucial in the EU's security calculations as Russia's war against Ukraine continues.
01:49Many European governments increasingly see Ankara as strategically indispensable.
01:54Turkey is a very important country for many aspects and many parts of our relation.
02:00And one of these parts is security and defence.
02:02A decade ago, European leadership was far more vocal about Turkey's democratic backsliding.
02:08But today, priorities have shifted.
02:10Energy security, migration, regional conflicts.
02:14These concerns now dominate the relationship between Brussels and Ankara.
02:17And that appears to give President Erdogan more room to manoeuvre.
02:21This is our blindness. Our blindness is requested by the Turkish.
02:26Please, let's talk about security and defence. Let's talk about pipelines.
02:30Let's talk about custom unions.
02:33But please, don't look to the prisons. Don't look to the civil society.
02:38Don't look to the journalists. Don't look to the LGBT people. Don't look to the universities.
02:43For many opposition supporters, the silence is felt on the ground.
02:49Europe needs to support the people in this country.
02:52We have members of parliament, mayors, students who were detained.
02:57They're throwing everyone who speaks out into jail.
03:02They are acting pragmatically, prioritising their own national interests.
03:07But we, as the Turkish people, feel like we've been left alone.
03:12President Erdogan portrays the CHP's crisis as an internal party conflict.
03:18His government rejects accusations. It is using the courts to target political opponents.
03:24And that it is moving away from democratic norms. Observers disagree.
03:29The European Union is still a club of democracies.
03:32And for that reason, we have to repeat to the Turkish authorities.
03:35If you want to really join the European Union, this is not about military power.
03:39This is not about geopolitics. This is not about trade. This is about democracy.
03:43For many here in Turkey, the concerns now go far beyond one opposition party.
03:48What will the next elections look like if the pressure continues?
03:52And will Europe find its voice again?
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