EVENTS in Turkey regarding onslaught on individuals accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have over the recent times continue to question my belief on the type of governance that holds sway in that country.

While it is widely known that every democratic leader must be willing to receive criticisms and sometime insults from the people, events in Turkey, including the recent court summon of Emrah Serbes for insulting President Erdogan, appear to justify analysts claim that the present administration has drifted into a near-dictatorship.

As a Nigerian, I have lost count of how many times people insulted President Goodluck Jonathan, especially in the social media, tagging him disparaging names for failing to meet their expectations. Even the President-Elect, General Muhamadu Buhari is not also spared of insults and criticisms from those who believe their interests would be endangered by his rule.

I have also seen on various international television screens and social network sites   how citizens of major democracies like United States, United Kingdom, India, among many others, criticising and sometime insulting their leaders for not living up to expectations.

Of all these instances, issue of criminal charges never came up, as criticisms and constructive ‘insults’ are seen as ‘thermometer’ to gauge the popularity of government in any democratic settings.

But President Erdogan seeming passion to stifle critics and’ crush’ Turks who made negative remarks about the present administration through harsh judicial prosecutions, underscore how democracy is fast bidding bye to Turkey amid outcry from various quarters.

Before the recent trial of Serbes, who was accused of “insulting” President Erdogan on a Television programme he joined as a guest speaker, many Turks are still licking their wounds, while others are cooling their heels in various jails for daring to make negative remarks on the iron-hand president, a scenario reminiscent of the old days of Emperor reign.

Report has it that between August last year to March this year alone, no fewer than 236 people have been investigated for insulting the Turkey’s President, out of which 105 were indicted, while Erdogan filed almost 500 requests to the social media platform, Twitter, for removal of content he considered abusive.

But if the insults are anything to go by, why is Erdogan attracting abusive remarks from the Turkish people? Was it the same thing a decade ago when he assumed power as Prime Minister before his ‘coronation’ as President? While the present administration seem to be evasive in answering these questions, many international analysts believe that the President determined efforts to permanently perpetuate himself in power despite his plummeting rating may have prompted the negative comments targeting the President.

Erdogan popularity rating dwindled to a record low following the corruption scandal that rocked the administration in December 2013, which some members of the President’s inner circle and officials of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were implicated.

But the quest to whip the Turkish people into his tortuous line has further made the President unpopular as waves of arrest of critics and blatant crackdown on media portray him as an authoritarian and dictatorial leader, even as various international rights groups continue to hit hard on Turkey’s human rights record.

Reporters Without Borders recently placed the country in 149th of 180 countries in the press freedom index, while a recent report, authored by US civil rights advocate James Harrington, brought to the fore a bleak picture of Turkey’s poor civil rights record just as it warned that further regression will see to the total erosion of little elements of democracy that are still on ground in the country.

This may not be far from the truth, in Erdogan’s time in office,( first as Prime Minister 2003-to 2014 and President from 2014 till date), no fewer than 63 journalists have been sentenced to a total of 32 years in prison, with collective fines of not less than $128,000, while figures from Turkey’s Ministry of Justice put the number of people investigated for insulting the President in the recent months at 236.

A 16-year-old boy was indicted earlier this year for calling the president a thief during a demonstration, just as a former Miss Turkey was also hit with charges for posting poem deemed to insult the president on her Instagram account.

Though most of the cases were initiated by individuals or lawyers, many believe that the waves of arrest of critics, judges, journalists, protesters and opposition figures, who the government often accused of being members of the ‘parallel state’ have the full backing of Erdogan.

As in the case of Serbes known for his writing on the popular crime series ‘Behzat C’, scores of criminal investigations and cases have been launched against authors, journalists, academics and cartoonists for “insulting Erdogan” in recent years, prompting statements of concern from the international community.

Mr.Yunus Usman, a commentator on current affairs , wrote from Lokoja.