The latest developments in Turkey are not just another internal political crisis. They constitute a serious test for democracy in the country, but also a credibility test for the West.

And, so far, the West is failing miserably.

The court ruling that nullifies the Republican People’s Party (CHP) congress, ousts Ozgur Özel and effectively restores Kemal Kilicdaroglu to the leadership of the opposition caused a political earthquake in Turkey.

The images of police forces outside CHP offices, the allegations of a judicial coup and the use of violence against opposition supporters are not indicative of a European democracy that is supposedly still negotiating special relations with the European Union.

But what is even more revealing is not only what is happening in Turkey. It is how the West is reacting – or rather how it is not reacting – to it.

Br>Br> Brussels has been limited to tepid references to “concern for the rule of law”, while there has been virtually no serious political pressure from Washington.While in other cases Europe and the US are flying the flag of democracy, in the case of Turkey there is an almost deafening pragmatism.

The reason is obvious. Turkey is no longer seen not as a democratic partner but as a “high utility” geopolitical tool. Its geographical position, its role in NATO, its control of migratory flows, its involvement in the Black Sea, the Middle East and the Caucasus are leading the West to a policy of tolerance towards the authoritarianism of Erdogan.

In other words, the West seems to tacitly accept that Turkey can remain “useful” even if it ceases to be a true democracy.

But this creates a profound strategic and moral paradox.

How can Europe talk about the rule of law vis-à-vis Russia or other authoritarian powers when it avoids confronting a country in which justice is increasingly being used as a political tool? How can the West appear as a defender of democratic institutions when it tacitly accepts interference even in the functioning of the largest Turkish opposition party?

The case becomes even more important because the CHP is not a fringe party. It is Kemal Atatürk’s party, the historic pillar of the secular Turkish state and the political force that managed to win the major metropolitan areas in the 2024 municipal elections. Its weakening or control is not only about Turkey’s internal political balance. It is about the future of Turkish democracy itself.

And herein lies perhaps the most worrying element: the West seems to have abandoned the idea of a truly democratic Turkey and is now investing exclusively in managing a “controlled authoritarian stability.”

This is a choice of short-term geopolitical cynicism that may prove extremely dangerous in the long run. For when Western democracies accept authoritarian aberrations in the name of geopolitical expediency, they not only weaken their values. They also weaken their strategic credibility.

Erdogan’s Turkey is not just becoming a more authoritarian state. He is gradually transforming into a regime where the political survival of power passes through the control of the judiciary, institutions, the media and now – it seems – even the opposition itself.

And the silence of the West in the face of this transition may prove to be historically far more resonant than any official statement.

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