The annual Freedom in the World report, produced by the Freedom House, has classified Turkey as “not free” for the first time since the report series began in 1999. It had lost its status as “partly free” due to a slide in political and civil rights.
Freedom House pointed to President Tayyip Erdoğan’s widespread crackdown in the wake of a failed 2016 coup and the disputed referendum in 2017 which gave the Turkish president widespread new powers.
The report also criticised Erdoğan for sacking elected mayors and replacing them with political allies and for “arbitrary prosecutions of rights activists and other perceived enemies of the state”.
Turkey’s passage over the threshold from 'Partly Free' to 'Not Free' is the culmination of a long and accelerating slide in Freedom in the World,” wrote Michael Abramowitz, Freedom House’s president.
According to the report, the Turkish government’s sprawling crackdown on its real and suspected opponents touched off by a coup attempt in July 2016, continued throughout 2017.
The report describes the situation in Turkey with these words:
"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. There was increasing evidence of extrajudicial “disappearances” and routine torture of political detainees. In June and July, officials arrested a number of leading human rights activists on terrorism charges. 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. The prosecution of journalists and closure of media outlets continues. Arrests based on messages shared via social media are common, leading to widespread self-censorship and a general chilling effect on political discourse.
In April 2017, a government-backed package of constitutional amendments was formally approved through a referendum. 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."
Why did the status of Turkey decline from 'Partly Free' to 'Not Free'? Report answers this question as; "Turkey’s status declined from Partly Free to Not Free, its political rights rating declined from 4 to 5, and its civil liberties rating declines from 5 to 6 due to 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."
- Constitutional revisions that concentrated power in the presidency were adopted in an April referendum. The campaign featured a grossly uneven playing field, and last-minute changes to the criteria for validating ballots—made in contravention of the law—undermined the legitimacy of the vote count.
- A state of emergency first declared after the attempted coup of July 2016 was renewed every three months and remained in place at year’s end, allowing the government to rule by decree and make decisions that dramatically undercut the rule of law.
- The government continued to take over opposition-controlled municipalities and expanded the practice to its own party by forcing independently elected AKP mayors to resign.
- In the context of a wider purge of the leadership’s perceived enemies, authorities initiated prosecutions of key figures in Turkey’s nongovernmental organization sector. The fear of arbitrary arrest stifled public discussion and weakened civil society.
The report painted a gloomy picture of the state of freedom around the world, finding that for a 12th consecutive years there had been a “decline in global freedom”.
Along with Turkey, 70 other countries suffered net declines in their political and civil rights, while only 35 improved their freedom scores.
“Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017 as its basic tenets — including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law — came under attack around the world,” the report found.
The report estimated that about 39 percent of the world’s 7.6 billion people live in free countries, compared to 24 percent in partially free countries and 37 percent in unfree countries.
Freedom House concluded that freedom in the US had suffered under Donald Trump and the US was among the country’s whose scores had declined, although it was still classified as a free country.
It pointed to Russian interference in the 2016 US election as well as “violations of basic ethical standards by the new administration, and a reduction in government transparency” as reasons for the US decline.
Freedom House criticised the Obama administration for not taking action to defend freedoms around the world but said that said the Trump administration “made explicit — in both words and actions — its intention to cast off principles that have guided US policy and formed the basis for American leadership over the past seven decades”.
Britain was given a 94 out of 100 on the freedom scale while the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Sweden and Norway topped the list on 100.
Syria came at the bottom of the table with -1 while North Korea and Eritrea were both on 3. Saudi Arabia was near the bottom with 7 while its regional rival Iran was on 17.
The vast majority of Freedom House’s funding comes from the US government and critics argue that its report often reflect US policy positions, for example, its tough criticism of Russia.
Freedom House says it is an independent body and its assessment reflects its own examination of the data. (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Ceren Sözeri
Yusuf Karadaş
Aras Coşkuntuncel