Turkey’s status regarding both “Press Freedom” and “Net Freedom” declines to “Not Free” in annual report “Freedom in the World 2018”

 

Turkey’s status declined from “Partly Free” to “Not Free” in the latest annual Freedom in the World 2018 report, issued on January 5 by the global democracy and human rights watchdog Freedom House.

The report, titled “Democracy in Crisis,” concerned 195 countries, 49 of which were listed under the category “Not Free.” People living in those countries account for 37 percent of the entire world population according to the report, which said, “Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017.”

“After initially passing some liberalizing reforms, the [ruling Justice and Development Party] government has shown growing contempt for political rights and civil liberties in recent years, perpetrating serious abuses in areas including minority rights, free expression, associational rights, corruption, and the rule of law,” the report’s section concerning Turkey read.

Turkey’s political rights rating declined from 4 to 5, and its civil liberties rating declined from 5 to 6 due to four key developments according to the report, which are “a deeply flawed constitutional referendum that centralized power in the presidency; the mass replacement of elected mayors with government appointees; arbitrary prosecutions of rights activists and other perceived enemies of the state; and continued purges of state employees, all of which have left citizens hesitant to express their views on sensitive topics.”

The US-based NGO’s report highlighted through numbers the toll of the government’s continued crackdown on its opponents throughout the past year following the attempted coup of July 15, 2016.

“Using emergency powers and vaguely worded terrorism laws, the authorities had suspended or dismissed more than 110,000 people from public-sector positions and arrested more than 60,000 others by year’s end. Extensive use of pretrial detention meant that many suspects were held behind bars for long periods without due process,” according to the report.

Also touching upon the arrests of human rights activists on terrorism charges, the report added: “Osman Kavala, perhaps Turkey’s most prominent civil society leader, was detained in October and eventually charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. Since the attempted coup, at least 1,500 civil society organizations have been summarily closed and their property confiscated.”

Pointing out the repression on press freedom, the report touched upon the continued prosecution of journalists and closure of media outlets, also adding: “Arrests based on messages shared via social media are common, leading to widespread self-censorship and a general chilling effect on political discourse.”

The report also mentioned the effects of the constitutional amendments introduced with the April 16, 2017 referendum, adding: “When fully implemented in 2019, the changes will radically increase the power of the presidency and reduce democratic checks and balances. The referendum was conducted on a manifestly unequal playing field, particularly in light of the ongoing state of emergency and related restrictions on the media, the opposition, and civil society. Moreover, the Supreme Election Council intervened in ways that seemed to favor the government and cast serious doubt on the integrity of the tabulation process.”

The full report on Turkey has yet to be published. The Freedom in the World 2018 report’s section concerning Turkey can be viewed here.