Turkey: Covid-19 Pandemic Used to Strengthen Autocratic Rule By Human Rights Watch Share this article Click to expand Image Police block protesting lawyers during a demonstration against a government draft bill to reduce the authority of Turkey’s leading bar associations. July 10, 2020, Ankara. © 2020 Tunahan Turhan / INA Photo Agency / Sipa via AP Images. (Istanbul) – The Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey has enabled the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to deepen autocratic rule by silencing critics and rapidly passing restrictive new laws to limit di...