Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and its leader may be in serious trouble. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its media arm are going after CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu for an interview published in the German magazine Focus Aug. 5.

In the interview, Kilicdaroglu simply complains that “there is no guarantee for life and property” in Turkey because of the horrendous deterioration in the country’s judicial standards and the rule of law. He allegedly told Focus that German tourists should not visit Turkey, a statement that the CHP leader denies making.

But if he did say it, Kilicdaroglu has a point. In recent months, the Turkish state has been arresting human rights activists, including representatives of major international groups such as Amnesty International as well as the Turkish German journalist Deniz Yucel on terrorism charges. As Al-Monitor columnist Amberin Zaman wrote Aug. 7, "1990s-style disappearances" may be coming back to Turkey.

Kilicdaroglu received considerable attention and support at home and abroad earlier this summer for organizing a Justice March to protest Turkey’s troublesome trajectory. The march saw the nearly 70-year-old CHP leader walk from the capital Ankara to Istanbul (a distance of about 450 kilometers, or 280 miles) to protest the imprisonment of a CHP deputy and highlight judicial abuses. Kilicdaroglu’s walk started with a whimper in Ankara June 15 — attended by a few hundred people — but ended with a bang. By the time the Justice March ended in Istanbul July 9, hundreds of thousands of Turks from all walks of life were accompanying the CHP leader.