"When I spoke to my liberal friends in Washington up until a few months ago, they would say about the AK Party, 'Aren’t they taking Turkey into the EU?' Now when I ask them what they think, they say, "Aren’t they the ones arresting journalists?'" said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey Research Programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"Do prije nekoliko mjeseci, kada bih razgovarao sa svojim prijateljima liberalima u Washingtonu, oni bi za AKP rekli: 'Zar oni ne vode Tursku u EU?' Sada kada ih pitam što misle, oni kažu: "Zar nisu to oni koji uhićuju novinare?'", kaže Soner Cagaptay, ravnatelj Turskog istraživačkog programa u Institutu za bliskoistočnu politiku iz Washingtona.