AKP took office in 2002 with the promises to consolidate democracy, institutionalize the rule of law and deepen respect for human rights. After a period of reforms on the path to EU membership, the party has…
AKP took office in 2002 with the promises to consolidate democracy, institutionalize the rule of law and deepen respect for human rights. After a period of reforms on the path to EU membership, the party has turned against its own success. Why has the AKP changed and gone authoritarian? How Turkey drifted from being a ‘model country’ that reconciles Islam with democracy to a country of political chaos and civil strife? What went wrong in Turkey? Is Turkey under the AKP rule a case for illiberal democracy or a post‐modern authoritarianism with Islamic references? Can Turkey’s de‐democratization be stopped? This is the story of the Islamists who failed to be democrats.
