Over the past two years, Western media have been awash with criticism that Turkey is growing authoritarian, with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) neglecting democratization and flouting human rights. Such harsh articles have appeared on Al-Monitor, too. On Feb. 20-21, a conference was even held in Portugal under the title “The Gezi Protests and Beyond: Contesting AKP Rule.” It seems some Western quarters are convinced that the AKP powerhouse must be toppled.
From my liberal democratic vintage point, I also see many mistakes by the AKP government. I, too, believe the AKP is authoritarian in certain aspects. For instance, it has failed to resolve the Alevi problem and advance the rights of Alevis. The state-media relationship remains very problematic. There are shortcomings on freedom of expression. Despite government efforts to resolve the Kurdish problem, Kurdish rights remain incomplete. The same goes for the rights of Christians and Jews.
Yet, I don’t see a drastic authoritarian shift over the past two years. The AKP of the 2012-14 period is what the AKP used to be in the 2010-12 period. A Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) coalition, which may eventually succeed the AKP, would take Turkey further back. Such a coalition is what the Gulen movement wants, because only a weak government will allow the Gulenists to preserve unchallenged their penetration of the state. Otherwise, they are widely believed to be facing a looming Ergenekon-like anti-state investigation for their parallel structure within the state.
Is Turkey really growing authoritarian? Measuring this is quite difficult, but not impossible. There are certain data we could use, primarily Turkey’s record at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the bulwark of basic rights and freedoms, including the number of cases brought against Turkey, the record of other countries and the nature of the court’s denunciations of Turkey. Furthermore, we can also take up the constitutional and legal reforms and other structural changes that Turkey has introduced to advance its democracy.
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