Turkey has made significant progress in democratization in the past decade, but major challenges remain in terms of local and national governance, the electoral process, minority rights, the strength of civil society and press freedoms, a US-based international think tank announced yesterday in Istanbul.

The content of a report titled "Turkey in Transit," prepared by the European chapter of Freedom House, an organization famous for its ranking of countries' levels of freedom, was shared with journalists at a press conference on Friday morning.

Turkey has seen a "positive trend of reform" in the past few years, the report's author, Nigar Göksel, said, noting that the trend had been stalled in the years 2006 and 2007. According to the report, increasing polarization in Turkey caused by growing tension between the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and segments that see the party as an Islamist threat is an obstacle on Turkey's path of reform. Other problems that remain as challenges to democracy in Turkey include the executive branch of the state being too strong vis-à-vis the legislature and judiciary, too much centralization in public administration, problems implementing new reforms passed in the past few years, cronyism in many institutions, low female representation in politics, a higher rate of taxes on civil society organizations compared to other countries and persistent corruption, particularly in public tenders.

Göksel also noted that intolerance toward non-Muslim religious minorities was creating concern, despite a law adopted earlier this year that returns property seized from non-Muslim foundations by the state. The brutal killing of three Christians in the eastern province of Malatya last year and the shooting of a Catholic priest in 2006 made their way into the report as examples of intolerance and violence against non-Muslims. Turkey's overloaded and sluggish judiciary was also cited as one of the significant obstacles to a better and sounder democracy.

The report said the corporate structure of Turkish media, where large conglomerates with interests in other sectors own media outlets, raises concerns that newspapers might be "prone to try and remain on good terms with politicians." The division of the media primarily along pro and anti-government lines also poses a problem for press freedoms, the report warned.

Yesterday's press conference followed a report released this week by Freedom House -- ahead of May 3, World Press Freedom Day -- that ranks countries on the basis of media freedom. In this year's report, Turkey is the only country ranked as "Partly Free" in Western Europe. Out of 195 countries and territories covered in the report, 72 (37 percent) were rated "Free," 59 (30 percent) "Partly Free" and 64 (33 percent) "Not Free." The evaluations are based on an assessment of the legal, political and economic environments in which journalists worked during 2007.

Turkey's press freedom rating declined to 51 in this year's report, two points down from the previous year, said Balint Molnar of Freedom House Europe. He said the continued prosecution of large numbers of journalists under an anti-free speech penal code article and the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink had played a clear role in the decline. Monlar added that press freedoms were declining on a global scale.

By E. Baris Altintas Istanbul
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