Hürriyet Daily News published an article by Yusuf Kanli headlined "Advancing autocracy, not democracy" devoted to the current political situation in Turkey, where a mass corruption probe damaged greatly the reputation of the Erdoğan government.
"It is difficult to understand to what limits Turkey’s government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will carry its “advanced democracy” or effort to gather legislative, executive and judiciary powers in its leader and government. The latest design to empower the justice minister to become the sole decision maker at the Judges and Prosecutors High Board (HSYK) underscores the dreadful reality the “advanced democracy” of AKP is definitely deficient of, put aside European or any sort of universal norm of “plain,” democratic governance," the article reads.
"As President Abdullah Gül underlined in his speech the other day at the War Academies, in today’s world the legitimacy of a government emanates from the existence of democratic governance. Democratic governance, on the other hand, requires free and fair elections but cannot be limited to that. It requires supremacy of law and equality of all in front of law. Furthermore, in the absence of the separation of legislative, judicial and executive powers democratic governance becomes a fairy tale," the author underlines.
According to Kanli, recent mass sacking of police officers, which followed an unprecedented corruption probe, is a very disturbing sign. "What’s indeed happening in this country is rather sad. With the claim of advanced democracy, autocracy is advancing; with the reform of the HSYK, the government is becoming a court as well. How sad it is for Turkey, for the achievements in democracy made over the past close to one century. Sacrificing everything for what? Particularly after the Tanzimat political reforms made in 1839, even no Ottoman sultan ever had such powers…" he writes.
