EKRE's youth organization thrown out of European Young Conservatives
The European Young Conservatives (EYC), a group of youth wings of Europe's conservative and center-right political parties, announced on Sunday that they have thrown Blue Awakening, the youth wing of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE) out of their organization.
EYC's decision, in which they noted that there is no place for nationalists in their organization, came in response to a letter sent by Blue Awakening last Monday in which they had criticized the EYC's development thus far and demanded the ejection of the youth wing of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
"You may have gotten the wrong impression regading our views," the EYC told Blue Awakening. "We are the youth organization of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, which means that our primary goal is to propagate the free market and classical liberal values in Europe. Some of our members have the rght to maintain conservative views, but we are not a nationalist organization and we do not aim to preserve Europe's ethnic identity."
Blue Awakening founder and chairman Ruuben Kaalep responded to the decision by criticizing the EYC's stance against nationalism despite their name.
"True conservatism, which follows Josseph de Maistre, Ernst Jünger, Oswald Spengler and other conservatives, is something completely different from classical liberalism," he said. "And how, then, can they retain among them the youth organization of Islamist dictator [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan, which has nothing to do with a single form of liberalism?"
According to Kaalep, Blue Awakening's time in the EYC was not wasted, as it allowed them to expose the true nature of an organization that had previously positioned themselves as national conservatives.
"The EYC, which rejects nationalism and marches to the beat of the Turkish sultan, is merely steering itself closer to its doom, as unlike their multicultural artificial conservatism, nationalism is a rising force among Europe's youth," Kaalep asserted.
Founded in November 12, Blue Awakening is the youth wing of the parliamentary Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE). One of its signature events is an annual torchlight procession held in the Estonian capital of Tallinn on Independence Day, drawing attention to the fact that there are still many people in Estonia who value nationalist ideals.
EKRE is a national conservative party which currently holds seven seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu. Party chairman Mart Helme ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
