Turkey is back on probation. That's what happens when a country behaves badly in the eyes of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

After the government's questionable conduct during the recent voter referendum on constitutional amendments, PACE passed a resolution 113-45 (with 12 abstentions) on April 25 in Strasbourg, France, to reopen monitoring procedures on Turkey that had been closed since 2004. But alleged election fraud is just the most recent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's actions to catch the council's attention. Members also cited Erdogan's iron-fisted crackdown on his opponents, journalists and human rights in general since an attempted coup in July.

Unless the election is successfully contested, the Turkish presidency will be granted unprecedented powers that some critics say will fulfill Erdogan's longtime dream of an imperial presidency. The constitutional amendments would endow Erdogan with powers enjoyed almost exclusively by absolute monarchs. But reports from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), whose election-watching mission included PACE observers, indicate Erdogan's victory was almost surely fraudulent.

Even the group's pre-election report found that the amendments' opponents were harassed and intimidated, and their campaign rallies were banned or interfered with by a heavy police presence. Erdogan's reaction to the findings? “Mind your own business.” The irony is, it indeed was OSCE-PACE's business. The joint mission’s mandate — at the invitation of the Turkish government, no less — was to observe campaign conditions.