AFP/Istanbul

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday launched a new attack on the European Union over its condemnation of raids on opposition media, saying that Brussels had no right to give Ankara a “democracy lesson”.
“They say they will give a democracy lesson to Turkey. Take the trouble to come here, so that Turkey can give you a lesson in democracy,” a combative Erdogan said in a speech in the Anatolian city of Konya.  
He told Brussels to “look in the mirror” in its dealings with Egypt and Syria in particular and said Turkey would never be the EU’s “doorman”.
The weekend arrests of journalists and television staff linked to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen earned Turkey severe criticism from the European Union which denounced the raids as “incompatible with the freedom of the media”.
But Erdogan on Monday lashed out at the rebuke and told European leaders to “mind their own business” in a diatribe that raised new doubts about Turkey’s stalled bid to join the bloc.
Yesterday, he stepped up his attack that came on the 10th anniversary of the EU greenlight for the start of formal membership negotiations with Ankara.  
“They’ve been dragging feet over the last decade... Sorry, but we are not the EU’s doorman,” the president said in comments which prompted cheers and whistling from the crowd.
“If they let us in, they do. If they don’t, they don’t,” he said. “You may speak against Turkey as much as you like. We will draw our own route.”
Erdogan warned the EU not to give “advice” to Turkey.
“Let me repeat it, those who try to advise Turkey by shaking their finger, just like a governess, must understand that they are no longer facing the old Turkey,” he said.
“They say they will give Turkey a lesson in freedoms. You first go and give an account of rising racism, Islamophobia and discrimination in Europe,” he added.
“Those who close their eyes to what happens in Syria, who turn their back on the massacres in Palestine, cannot preach to us about freedom, democracy and human rights.”
Turkish police were still questioning 18 suspects arrested in hugely controversial weekend raids against opposition media.
The detainees include Ekrem Dumanli, editor-in-chief of Turkey’s top-selling Zaman newspaper which is closely linked to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of running a “parallel state” to oust his government.
In last weekend’s raids, journalists and television staff from Zaman and Samanyolu TV were arrested on suspicion of forming a gang to seize control of the state.  
Twelve have been released so far, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency, but 18 remain in custody in Istanbul.
The mass arrests drew ire of human rights groups and the European Union which denounced them as “incompatible with the freedom of the media”, prompting a sharp rebuke from Erdogan who told Brussels to mind its “own business”.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey’s political scene for more than a decade, is locked in a bitter battle with Gulen, 73.
He declared Gulen enemy number one after blaming him for an explosive corruption scandal that implicated Erdogan’s family and inner circle.
The controversy began with the opening of a probe on December 17, 2013 -- exactly one year ago—into the biggest scandal in the country’s recent history, which dragged down four ministers and prompted a cabinet shake-up.  
Around 500 protesters including opposition lawmakers marked the anniversary of the corruption investigation in Ankara, shouting: “They are thieves!”  
Some of the demonstrators wore the masks of the four former ministers who were involved in alleged bribery and corruption.  Despite the crisis, Erdogan has emerged stronger from local and presidential elections.