Recently, a surprise visit to Turkey was organized for the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and for the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
Objective: "To restore relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan".
When it comes to Turkey, Europe is used to minimizing and betting that everything will be better tomorrow. As Turkey has embraced progress, it will inevitably progress, right?. Well, this was not the case. And Europe has capitulated.
Erdogan's warmongering ambition is clear and is developing on all fronts of the reconquest that Atatürk had had to give up. The worse Erdogan behaves, the more Europe retreats.
Does Turkey call French President Macron "crazy"? In Brussels they pretend nothing has happened.
Is Turkey drilling in Cypriot waters? In Brussels they don't know where Cyprus is.
Is Turkey converting the Hagia Sophia to a mosque? In Brussels they "follow the situation".
Does Turkey threaten the Greek islands? From Brussels, brief complaints.
Does Turkey send armed forces to Libya, controlling the two main departure points of migrants to Europe and managing the port of Misrata? In Brussels just a sigh.
Is Turkey invading North-Eastern Syria and driving out Christians and Kurds? Brussels already has its own internal troubles.
Turkey bombs the Armenian population in Nagorno Karabakh? In Brussels, no one seems to remember the survivors of the Ottoman genocide, abandoned in the most extreme solitude to fight bravely until it becomes impossible to continue to slaughter their own children, those few who remain.
Is Turkey building mega mosques in Strasbourg, seat of the European Parliament? Brussels finances them because it no longer wants to be Christian.
Does Turkey arrest writersjournalists, human rights activists? From Brussels, no interference.
We have denied the Turkish danger for too long, out of convenience and cowardice but also out of ideological blindness and historical misunderstanding, this while within its borders Erdogan confiscated democracy, purged the state apparatus, repressed the opposition, gagged the press and persecuted minorities.
The European Union is reluctant to see what Turkey is doing, further aggravating its already solid reputation for hypocrisy. And now that Erdogan combines one humiliation of Europe after another, as dhimmi, European officials go to the sultan to humiliate themselves.
Erdogan remembers well when Europeans called the Ottoman Empire "the great sick man of Europe". Today he takes his revenge in seeing them humiliated at his palace.
In a meeting room in Ankara, Erdogan and Charles Michel sat on gilded chairs, while the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen was left without one, sitting a little apart on a sofa, facing the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, who occupies a lower rank in diplomatic protocol. Ursula just whispered a pathetic "ehm" of disapproval.
Critics had already attacked the visit, which took place just two weeks after Erdogan withdrew Turkey from an international treaty aimed at preventing violence against women and known as the "Istanbul Convention".
A European treaty that Turkey was the first to ratify, when Erdogan was already in power! Now he no longer wants to hear about this text "which does not appear in the Koran".
Yes, that's what Erdogan said to justify leaving the treaty. Music for our brave European feminists.
Giulio Meotti is, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, writes a twice-weekly column for Arutz Sheva. He is the author, in English, of the book "A New Shoah", that researched the personal stories of Israel's terror victims, published by Encounter and of "J'Accuse: the Vatican Against Israel" published by Mantua Books, in addition to books in Italian. His writing has appeared in publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, Gatestone, Frontpage and Commentary