Freedom House: Turkey One of World’s Worst Transnational Repressors

A man walks under the Turkish flag during a curfew in the COVID-19 pandemic in Istanbul, May 23, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/ERDEM SAHIN

"Incidents of transnational repression that took place in Turkey accounted for a quarter of the total recorded by Freedom House last year," the report said.

"Defending Democracy in Exile: Understanding and Responding to Transnational Repression", published on Thursday, said Turkey became a more dangerous place in 2021 for people targeted by foreign regimes, particularly China and Turkmenistan.

Due to common cultural, religious and linguistic traditions, as many as 50,000 Uyghurs from China live in Turkey today - but the community remains vulnerable to Beijing's reach. Police raids, arrests and threats of deportation to China are frequent.

The report said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government's foreign policy goals influence domestic policy, as Turkey gets closer to China and tries to mend relations with Middle Eastern countries after years of tension.

"When the origin state using transnational repression is an adversary, Turkey protects the targeted and punishes the perpetrators. When the origin state is a friendly nation, Turkey silences activism and endangers the already vulnerable," the report noted.

According to the report, Turkey uses international repression to silence dissent beyond its borders. Freedom House data show that between 2017 and 2021, Turkey came second only to China in terms of the number of acts of physical transnational repression - 123.

The report said Turkey also exploited international security systems as well as cooperation with other countries' security and intelligence agencies.

"Awareness among security agencies about transnational repression can also...