In a further blow to Turkey’s spotty global image, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called March 8 for Turkey to come under its formal scrutiny, a status reserved for members that are deemed to be backsliding on democracy. Nine countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Russia are currently on that hook.
In a report statement the Strasbourg-based body, of which Turkey is a founding member, said, “Eight months after the [July 15] failed coup and the declaration of a state of emergency, the Monitoring Committee is concerned to note that there has been a serious deterioration of the functioning of democratic institutions in the country.”
