A leading human rights body today (April 25, 2017) voted to put Turkey on a watchlist due to its crackdown on dissent since last July's failed coup attempt, rights violations, and concerns about President Tayyip Erdogan's increased grip on power, according to the Reuters website.
Turkey reacted furiously to the vote at the Strasbourg-based Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, saying it smacked of Islamophobia and was a "disgrace to this organization, which claims to be the cradle of democracy."
The 47-member of the Council of Europe (COE) is separate from the European Union (EU), but the vote is likely to be a further setback in Turkey's attempt to join the EU.
The Council of Europe applies its monitoring scheme to all countries when they join, but this was the first time it has been reopened against any member of the body, which includes Russia, Ukraine, and all 28 EU member states.
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