President Tayyip Erdogan's opponents say they will repair the damage done to human rights during his rule, promising a new era for democracy and freedoms if he loses power in an election on Sunday.
yet at the ballot box, rights advocates hope his defeat will draw a line under an era which they say has seen judicial independence eroded, freedom of speech curbed, and journalists and politicians jailed.
While Ankara defends its rights record, critics say civil liberties and freedoms have suffered major set backs over the last decade as Erdogan has concentrated ever more power in his hands, prompting concern among Western allies. The opposition has long said Erdogan and his AK Party influence the courts. The government denies this.between Erdogan and his main challenger, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, candidate of a six-party alliance, who has a slight lead.the opposition "pro-LGBT" while on the campaign trail. Rights activists say the LGBT community, often described as "deviant" by Erdogan, has been systematically targeted.
But critics say women's rights have suffered in recent years, notably in 2021 when the government pulled Turkey out of the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty combating gender-based violence, on grounds that it threatens family values and that local laws were sufficient.
Ruhat Sena Aksener of Amnesty International said the election is taking place in "a very dark picture of human rights", and that re-establishing the judiciary's independence and impartiality must be the next government's first priority.
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