US NGO labels Turkey only ‘partly free,’ cites declines in freedoms

ISTANBUL

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Turkey is only a "partly free" country due to a serious decline in civil liberties and political rights, U.S. nongovernmental organization Freedom House has said in its annual Freedom in the World report. The report underlined the decline of civil liberties in Turkey as a major development, while sharply criticizing the rule of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.“[Erdoğan's] government has jailed hundreds of journalists, academics, opposition party officials and military officers in a series of prosecutions aimed at alleged conspiracies against the state and Kurdish organizations,” the report said.Turkey was labeled "partly free" by the report, receiving a score of 3/7 on political rights and 4/7 on civil liberties.Partly free countries are defined by the group as nations "in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties," an "environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife,” as well as single-party dominance in the political landscape.Partly free countries include Togo, Uganda, Tanzania, Tunisia, Guatemala, Malawi, East Timor, Ecuador and others.