Turkey and the international liberal order: What happened? (Kemal Kirişci, Brookings)

Turkish democracy has taken a few big knocks recently. It is not surprising that in light of the arrest of numerous academics and journalists, who disagree with the government, the international watchdog Freedom House downgraded Turkey to the “Not Free” category in its Freedom of the Press rankings. Its overall rating also sank deeper, into the “Partly Free” status. Turkey tops the list of countries with the highest number of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding violations of freedom of expression in 2015. Furthermore, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights recently expressed concern about the actions of the Turkish security forces in Southeastern Turkey, where a battle continues to rage between security forces and the militias of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). The violence threatens the fundamental rights of civilians, many of whom have been displaced in the wake of the destruction in the area—numerous observers have drawn parallels to scenes from Syria.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2016/02/23-turkey-international-liberal-order-kirisci