Turkey’s Diminutive Democracy

It seemed that all elements of democracy were present in Turkey but many not at sufficient levels to call that country a fully functioning democracy. There were a number of democracy and human rights-related areas in which Turkey’s performance had been less than satisfactory. Although the power of the Turkish government was far from being absolute, the absence of an effective opposition had meant that it felt less constrained in its actions. Rather than characterizing democracy as a system of limited government, checks, and balances, the AKP leadership seemed to feel that achieving an electoral majority gave them the power to rule in ways they deem appropriate.