In the 2024 Freedom House report, Turkey was categorized alongside Cambodia, Guatemala, Poland, and Zimbabwe. These countries were identified as those where the government is striving to control the electoral process, obstruct political opposition, or hinder the transfer of power following elections.
The think tank Freedom House has published a report titled “The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict.”
According to report, Turkey, Cambodia, Guatemala, Poland, and Zimbabwe are classified in the category of countries where the government is striving to control the electoral process, obstruct political opposition, or hinder the transfer of power following elections.
The report highlighted the lack of fair competition in the 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections in Turkey.
Following the elections on May 14th, where incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan narrowly won against former Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round, it was noted that there was a focus on the shortcomings of the opposition rather than the democratic challenges of the country.
In summary, the inability of opposition forces to win an unfair election led to the overlooking of systemic issues such as freedom of expression and the prosecution of political dissenters.
The Freedom House report sharply criticized the AKP government’s political tactics:
“In Turkey, elections have been marred by long-standing harassment, arrests, and criminal prosecutions of opposition leaders and journalists, alongside the AKP’s dominance over the media and its misuse of state resources.”
Turkey falls short of being considered a ‘free country’
In general, political rights and civil liberties have regressed in 52 countries worldwide, with only 21 countries showing improvement.
The research assessed the state of freedoms in 195 countries across 15 regions in 2023. Countries were categorized as “free,” “partly free,” or “not free” based on a scoring system out of 100.
According to the report, around 38% of the world’s population resides in “not free” countries, 42% in “partly free” countries, and 20% in “free” countries.
Yana Gorokhovskaya, one of the report’s authors, remarked, “While there may be occasional exceptions when examined regionally, overall there has been a decline in almost every region. Deterioration is quite prevalent.”
You can read the full report here.