, Columnist
Erdogan’s Enablers
Trump and other Western leaders need to hold Turkey’s ruler to account.
Not all Turks are so eager to see him.
Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images EuropeThis article is for subscribers only.
As you may have read, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan just won another "election." I use the term advisedly.
Yes, voters chose from among competing parties for both the parliament and presidency. But conditions heavily favored an Erdogan victory. "The incumbent president and his party enjoyed a notable advantage, also reflected in excessive coverage by government-affiliated public and private media," notes the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was an official observer of Sunday's election. The election took place under a state of emergency, which "limited fundamental freedoms of assembly and expression."