Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Senior Fellow Sabine Freizer writes for Today’s Zaman on the crisis in Ukraine:
Ukraine is on fire. Though it is part of the same Black Sea region as Turkey and a solid economic partner, Kiev is far from many minds in Turkey.
The few that are paying attention are making comparisons between the violence during the Gezi protests and what is happening today in Ukraine’s squares. Some comparisons are useful, but overall the situation in Ukraine today is much more dangerous and deserves attention in its own right as a threat to regional peace and security.
Both in Turkey and in Ukraine, the excessive use of force by police against peaceful protesters led to a quick and sharp deterioration of the situation. A key lesson from both is that full investigations of inappropriate action by the police is needed to calm tensions and re-establish trust in law enforcement. Prosecutions have begun in Turkey, but they should move faster and be more thorough.