ABSTRACT
Turkey a decade ago was shown as an example of economic and democratic development by the West to the Middle Eastern Muslim countries. Today, this is no longer the case. Unfortunately, the so-called conservative-democratic Justice and Development Party (AKP) shifted gradually to the Far Right over the years of its 20 years’ reign. Turkey is now just another country struggling to free itself from the vortex of authoritarianism.
Turkey’s place in all international indices, such as justice, law, democracy, freedoms, etc., is a loud and clear sign of the extremist politics of the governing party. Concepts such as illiberal democracy, elected authoritarianism, authoritarian democracies, etc. are now used for describing the current regime in Turkey. Turkey is on Freedom House’s list of not-free countries. It ranks first in the poverty index and is the 96th country in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. Moreover, according to World Bank data, poverty in Turkey is surging. Turkey ranks 149th on RSF Press Freedom Index, and according to IPI data, 36 journalists are still under arrest in 2022.
