By Gözde Kök*
As the Justice and Development Party (AKP) completes its 24th year in power this month, the debate over the nature of Turkey’s political regime remains very much alive. The arrests of opposition politicians and journalists, the use of the judiciary as an instrument of political intervention, restrictions on the freedoms of assembly and organisation, the removal of elected mayors from office, and, more recently, the operations targeting the main opposition party have all reinforced the widely held view among left-wing opposition circles that the AKP has established a fascist regime.
