Tough questions on Turkey

In the last two days, I have attended a number of meetings in Brussels concerning the state of Turkey after the bloody coup attempt on July 15.

The meetings with European politicians, European Union officials, think tanks, business associations, universities and the like occurred within the framework of a civilian initiative called the Democracy Platform of Turkey (TDP), a diverse group consisting of investors, academics, members of NGOs, journalists, minority representatives and politicians. 

The aim is to tell about the trauma that Turkey is still experiencing because of the coup attempt and try to close the increasing gap between Turkey and the EU in its wake.

It is not difficult to observe a list of frequently asked questions and standard remarks following two days of intense contacts.

Here are some of them which would be better for President Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım to take into consideration both in terms of Turkey's relations with the EU and also in the fight against the secret network of Fethullah Gülen, the U.S.-based Islamist preacher who is accused of masterminding the coup attempt.

- First of all, the theory about the coup attempt being a scenario of Erdoğan in order to consolidate his power is no longer considered valid; perhaps it was in the first few days, but not now. On the other hand, there are a lot of questions about the "evidence" showing that it was really Gülenists who did it.

- This is not an easy issue. Because the contemporary European mind is so far away from the concept of a military coup, it is approaching it like an ordinary criminal case. And the Turkish concept of evidence is sometimes limited to the evidence of being linked to the Gülenist network, for...