Democracy and human rights in Turkey have been a prominent subject of discussion in many international forums over the past ten years due to that country’s unique domestic difficulties and geopolitical importance. Hardly any other country in the world has been so criticized for its human rights record, nor is the future of any other country so dependent on the promotion of human rights. And therein lies an irony: because the criticism stems not from what is appalling about Turkey, but what is laudable about it; not from what it has been in the past, but what it aspires to be.

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