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| Credit: Today's Zaman |
An upward trend of democratic achievements and efforts to make Turkey a more civilized and democratic country have been reversed recently -- particularly after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) grew more authoritarian and intolerant toward criticism starting from the Gezi Park protests of last summer.
Since then, Turkey has turned inward and transformed into an anti-democratic regime.
The blame largely rests on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his AK Party government. For many, Turkey is now a country where criticism is not tolerated; social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter are blocked very easily; people are killed for participating in anti-government street protests; and journalists are fired for speaking against the government.
