Turkey: A strategic partner or backsliding democracy?

The Turkish government received three strong messages on the quality of its democracy and rights from three Western partners on the same day on April 14. The messages from the European Parliament (EP), the U.S. Department of State and the Council of Europe's (CoE) human rights commissioner came at a time when Turkey is in a counter-terrorism campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a side effect of the Syrian civil war along its southern borders and in a deal with the European Union over the control of the illegal migrant flow mainly sourcing from the Syrian war.

Considering Turkey's desire to reactivate its membership process, including visa-free travel rights with the EU, the EP report reflected the mood in European politics about Turkey's course, despite having no binding power. Being one of the strongest reports on Turkey, it accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government of "backsliding" on democracy and the rule of law. EP Turkey rapporteur Kati Piri said the regression in areas such as freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary was "particularly worrying," adding there was intimidation of the press, a slowing down in the overall pace of reforms and an escalation of violence in the country due to PKK attacks and counter security operations.

Turkish EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r turned down the report because of references to the claims of Armenian genocide under the Ottoman Empire. That overshadowed the criticism in Turkish public opinion about the decline in the use of democratic rights.

Bozk?r was quick responding to the EP report on Turkey, but there were two other criticisms.

CoE Human Rights Commissioner Nils...