Is Turkey displaying a successful democracy performance?
Having thwarted the military coup on July 15, 2016, Turkey has been managed by state-of-emergency for quite a while now and the government has shown tendency to link the cause of many steps it has taken, to the fight to eliminate the remnants of the coup. But do the measures and the steps taken truly fit in with the spirit of the goal claimed by the government or are some of them being used as a means for what the government wants to do in its “own” right direction? Most importantly, does this situation undermine first class democracy in this country, about which many opinion leaders already have strong concern. Does this picture damage the image of Turkey in the eyes of the Western World, as a country that lacks first class democracy? Furthermore and to be even worse for the administration itself, is the government increasingly harming its credibility in its own people’s eyes?
At the moment, many believe that Turkey reflects the image of a country that imprisons its politicians, journalists, and intellectuals who oppose the administration and its practices, based on inaccurate and unproven allegations and is considered to be a country that does not comply with international rule of law and practices – as explicitly expressed by its western friends on several platforms to include international ones.
For example, referring to a very important issue on the agenda of the country today, a campaign is being run by supporters (or fanatics, rather maybe) of the ruling party in which they say the the leader of the main opposition party could (and even should) be jailed, claiming “he is guilty of helping to reveal the secrets of the state?”. The debate is almost turned into a campaign against CHP leader and the critical point is that, judging on his discourses and speeches for a while, the president (today, the leader of the ruling party simultaneously) himself who is defined impartial by law, seems to have been contributing to the campaign against CHP leader.
To recap, this situation certainly upsets Turkey’s western friends and to be even worse it could also affect the investment environment soon, which would be a very unfavorable consequence for the country. If the EU decides sometime not too far away, to take action and implement sanctions pushing Turkey further out of the community, it may be the Turkish people and the country that is going to feel the impact of the damage.