Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders has warned the Netherlands cannot guarantee the safety of citizens travelling to Turkey if they have been critical of Turkish leaders.
 

Turkey continued to be defined as "not free" in U.S.-based think tank Freedom House's 2016 report on press freedom, with its score going up six points and thus signifying a "deteriorating" trend. 

Turkey is among the countries that "suffered the largest declines" over 2015, along with Bangladesh, Burundi, France, Serbia, Yemen, Egypt, Macedonia, and Zimbabwe.

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said on April 26 that the state should have an equal distance from all religious faiths, following Parliament Speaker ?smail Kahraman's call for Turkey's new constitution to drop all references to secularism. 

"Coward, villain, utterly dark, ignorant, disgusting, traitor, lumpen, tool of the terror organization, immoral, leftover pro-mandate, spoiled soul." If you direct these words at someone, at best, you yourself would be the subject to similar adjectives. At worst, something could be thrown at you, which is a reaction that will totally be tolerated in a society with a tendency for violence.

Tragically, and in his own words, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an thinks (or pretends to think) that "the primary reason behind terror in Turkey is to prevent Turkey from getting into the world's top 10 economies." 

Following Germany and the Netherlands, the Turkish government is now trying to gag freedom of expression and the press in Switzerland and Sweden!

The United Nations' Alliance of Civilizations is far away from attaining its foundational targets, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said April 26.

The Netherlands’ largest newspaper ‘De Telegraaph’ has published a front page cartoon depicting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as an ape trampling on freedom of speech in Europe!

Turkey has asked authorities in Geneva to remove an exhibition picture that blames President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an for the death of a Turkish teen injured during anti-government demonstrations, a Swiss official said April 25.    

The overturning by Turkey's top court of appeal of the so-called "Ergenekon coup plot trial," which was initiated in 2007 and lasted until 2011, is being hailed as one of the most significant legal developments in recent Turkish history.