Is the war in Ukraine prompting the West to give Erdogan a free pass on democracy, human rights, and other issues?

Turkey’s Western allies have often sidelined democratic values when dealing with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As the war rages in Ukraine and Turkey maintains its balancing act between the West and Russia, there are questions that the West is once again sidelining human rights and democratic values as it looks to engage with Turkey on Ukraine.

Merve Tahiroglu, the Turkey Program Coordinator at the Project on Middle East Democracy, joins our host Thanos Davelis to look at whether Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is prompting the West to cozy up to Erdogan, and whether this means that Turkey is getting a free pass on human rights and democratic backsliding.

We also discuss the recent POMED policy brief that outlines why democratic values must play a central role – along with geopolitics – as Western governments formulate their Turkey policies.