According to the rest of the world, Turkey is a democratic nation, but the nation still struggles with providing the most basic of civil rights: freedom of speech. Since Erdogan came into power in Turkey, he has been making sure he gets to keep that power by arresting all forms of media that aim to tarnish his reputation.

Though some of what the Turkish media says about him holds some truth, it's his response to his actions that really show his draconian rule. By ordering the police to raid "Hürriyet," one of Turkey's popular newspapers, and arresting countless journalists, Turkey now right behind China in terms of the world’s largest jailor of journalists. Even when Erdogan was giving an address in the Brookings Institute, his security detail attacked anti-Erdogan protesters outside to scare away and silence them. On top of all the arrests and punishments, Erdogan ordered around 52,000 websites to be banned. Despite all of his work silencing the independent media, however, he couldn't hide anything from the rest of the Western world.

In the article "West takes Erdogan to task over press freedom" by Semih Idiz, he talks about how in Erdogan's recent meeting with president Obama, he was called out on his human rights atrocities, and how he is hurting the democratic stance of his nation. Erdogan later stated that Obama was spreading lies about him, and the pro-government media spread this rumor further to tarnish Obama's reputation in Turkey.

The Parliament President of Germany, Martin Schulz, also had a few words to say about Erdogan, "We must make clear to Erdogan: We have democracy in our country. That's the end of it... Politicians must live with satire, even the Turkish president."

In response to all of these criticisms, Erdogan stated, "Those who attempt to give us lessons in democracy and human rights must first contemplate their own shame." Erdogan loves to promote his regime as a democratic nation, but that is far from the truth.

Though he violates some the most basic of human rights, Turkey is important to the rest of the Western world. From combating radical terrorists to housing Syrian refugees, Turkey does a lot of noble deeds to improve its image to the rest of the Western world.

But this cannot continue to be an excuse to commit these atrocities. If Turkey truly wants to become a democratic nation and join the European Union, it has to start acting like one. Being told that the Turkish government is undemocratic is simply stating that it is undemocratic, but taking violent and unlawful actions against its own people proves that the nation is undemocratic.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/..