The Rise and Collapse of Democracy in Turkey That kind of tack also may help defuse the growing tendency in the United States to conflate Erdoğan with Turkey, where against all odds there is a growing commitment to a return to democracy. A look at the history of Turkey’s democratic transition illustrates how and why such an approach might provide fuel for the opposition in Turkey. tradition of supporting democratization in Turkey, make it clear that Turkey as a country would be welcomed back to such summits, if and when it reconstructs its democracy. But Biden still should, in line with a longstanding – though spotty - U.S. The fact that he will not be in the same photo-op with Biden at this summit – even on a virtual screen – adds another question mark to his claim to world leader status with which he has always tried to captivate his base.Īn invitation for Turkey also would not have made it any more likely for Biden to extract democratic concessions from Erdoğan going forward Erdoğan is well past the point of making a U-turn from his form of governance. Had Biden invited Turkey to the Summit for Democracy, it would have restored some of Erdoğan’s luster in domestic politics and weakened the hand of the opposition at a time when they are challenging him precisely for failing to govern the country democratically. presidency and exploited that status politically at home, the Turkish leader has been unable to paper over his faults with Biden.

While Erdoğan had maintained close relations with Donald Trump during his U.S. So Turkey’s exclusion from the Summit for Democracy needs to be read as Erdoğan’s exclusion, and it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Turkey, as the shunning weakens Erdoğan’s hand internally, to the advantage of a recently strengthening opposition. His unorthodox economic policies have thrown the country’s economy into a bottomless pit, while his foreign policy has torn Turkey away from its transatlantic allies and brought its status closer to autocratic countries such as Russia and China. In the past decade, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has eviscerated Turkish democracy with his increasingly authoritarian rule. Turkey’s absence from the list of countries invited to President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy was not so surprising.

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