Turkey Under the AKP: Are Civil Liberties Safe?

Issue Date January 2012
Volume 23
Issue 1
Page Numbers 109-118
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In the West, Turkey is considered a model for a secular democracy in the Muslim world, yet the country finds itself mired in a crisis of civil rights and liberties under a third term of the pro-Islamic AKP government. Ironically, while the government maintains a discourse on political reform—including constitutional amendments—the country is bitterly divided over issues of minority and human rights, freedom of speech, and autonomy of media and academia.