It wasn’t very long ago that Turkey was held up as an example of a country in the midst of a great democratic transformation—a nation steadily enhancing democratic norms, finding easy coexistence between Islam and democracy and moving optimistically in the direction of membership in the European Union. Today, it’s difficult to find many people expressing hope for Turkey’s prospect of joining the EU. Even more troubling, there is a growing consensus that Turkey is visibly and rapidly drifting away from democracy. The driving force behind the country’s dramatic change of direction is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of the […]