By Andrew L. Jaffee

For years, Turkey was a beacon of hope — a state with a Muslim majority and a democratic government founded on the secular principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. But democracy seems to be steadily eroding under the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an of the AKP Party. From the BBC:

A Turkish court has rejected an appeal by a prominent journalist against a ruling that found him guilty of insulting Turkishness.

Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian living in Turkey, was given a six-month suspended sentence last October.

He had written a newspaper article which addressed the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians nine decades ago.

This case is one of several monitored closely by EU officials concerned about limits on free speech in Turkey.

The term “insulting Turkishness” is reminiscent of Soviet-style government, not a democracy. Read more disturbing news from Turkey here.