UN observer says Turkey has lost its democratic status
UN observer says Turkey has lost its democratic status
- Date: November 26, 2021
- Categories:Rights

- Date: November 26, 2021
- Categories:Rights
UN observer says Turkey has lost its democratic status
International IDEA, an official United Nations Observer, has listed Turkey among five countries that have lost their democratic status in the past decade.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an intergovernmental organisation that works to support and strengthen democratic processes around the world, released a report with assessments on countries that have moved towards democracy or authoritarianism in the past decade.
Turkey has been listed in the report among five countries that have lost their democratic status.
The Global State of Democracy Report 2021 observes in its introduction that “democracy is at risk” on the global level, while “its survival is endangered by a storm of threats, both from within and from a rising tide of authoritarianism.”
The report lists Turkey among 10 countries that have moved towards authoritarianism, alongside Bolivia, Benin, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, Serbia and Zambia, and the year 2018 is marked as a critical stage in Turkey’s decline in status.
It is indicated that not only is Turkey one of the five countries that has declined the most in the past 10 years, it is also one of five that have lost their democratic status.
The five countries that have declined the most are listed as Turkey, Brazil, Nicaragua, Poland and Serbia.
The five countries that lost their democratic status due to severe declines in democratic institutions and processes are Turkey, Benin, Honduras, Ivory Coast and Serbia.
Turkey is also listed among countries where gender equality is threatened by rising authoritarianism.
“In March 2021, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pulled Turkey out of the Istanbul Convention, the legally binding Council of Europe treaty to tackle violence against women,” the report says.
“Hungary did so in 2019. In Azerbaijan, the authorities have targeted women’s rights activists using a smear campaign to push women out of political life. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has scaled back numerous domestic violence laws, while India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fought against the criminalisation of marital rape.”
International IDEA is an official United Nations Observer.
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