Is the AK Party path democratic or authoritarian?

There are several types of democracy, such as electoral democracy, liberal democracy and constitutional democracy, so countries may have unique forms of democracy. It should be noted, however, that because there is no single definition for or way to measure democracy, it is difficult to determine how democratic a given country is. Yet, there are some institutions, such as Freedom House, that describe the level of democracy of different countries, thus showing the basic pattern of democracy across the world.

As a so-called model Muslim country, democracy in Turkey has been discussed by many people in recent decades. Since the general policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have been drastically criticized by citizens, particularly in the last several years, at this point it is worth examining how and to what extent Turkish democracy should be seen as a real liberal democracy in terms of modern standards. Therefore, let me first explain some basic characteristics of democracy as presented by Robert Dahl, one of the most prominent scholars in the field of political science.

Dahl identifies several important criteria that are essential for democracy: Control over governmental decisions about policy must be constitutionally vested in elected officials; there must be relatively frequent, fair and free elections; there must be universal adult suffrage; citizens must have the right to run for public office; there must be freedom of expression; citizens must have access to alternative sources of information that are not monopolized by either the government or any other single group; and freedom of association must be allowed. Using these criteria, I will determine whether recent actions in Turkey done by the AK Party government should be seen as democratic or authoritarian.

Right to run for public office: Merit is an essential attribute of people in public office. However, in the last several years under AKP rule, there has been a noticeable trend that favors the recruitment of AK Party supporters for appointments to public office. Additionally, there is undeniable concern over attempts by the AKP to remove from their positions senior judges, police officers and bureaucrats. Ironically, the AKP takes these steps pursuant to reports by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), which, by its very nature, may easily mislead the AKP government by making use of its unique organizational structure to pursue a secret agenda and its propensity for anti-democratic politics.

Freedom of the press and expression: The World Press Freedom Index places Turkey 154th in the list. The intimidation of some journalists who criticize the government and co-opting of some national newspapers, such as the Sabah and Star dailies -- which act like the propaganda tools of the government and the voice of MİT -- lead us to think that there is a lot to be done in the way of press freedom in Turkey.

Transparency and accountability: The lack of public spending auditing alone by the AK Party government is enough to show one that there is no truly transparent, accountable governance in Turkey. The Republican People's Party (CHP) has asserted in Parliament that the AK Party government has been pressuring the Court of Accounts to destroy its annual reports that need to be submitted to Parliament each year. Moreover, the Court of Accounts cannot truly audit state institutions with the political pressure there has been throughout the year.

Government intervention in private life: Despite the warnings of many civil society organizations concerning the AK Party's attempt to shut down prep schools and its interventions in student housing, the ruling AK Party government is trying to step into almost all aspects of private life. Interestingly, the AK Party used to criticize the military for profiling people based on their beliefs and ideology. However, AKP Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik has said that “MİT has a habit of profiling people, and it is difficult for the organization to get rid of this habit.” What is important in this case in terms of democracy and freedom of the press is that while he admitted MİT is profiling citizens, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç called on prosecutors to take legal action against the Taraf daily and journalist Mehmet Baransu, those responsible for revealing this ongoing practice. Dramatically, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Mehmet Baransu as “traitor” for publishing state documents in a newspaper.

Taking all of the above-mentioned facts and incidents into account, it can be said that Turkish democracy has been straying from its path to the standards of the European Union in the last several years. Therefore, Turkish democracy is severely threatened by the propensity for authoritarianism of Erdoğan's government.