"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 pre nekoliko meseci kada bih razgovarao sa svojim prijateljima liberalima u Vašingtonu oni bi rekli za AKP 'Zar oni ne vode Tursku u EU?' Sada kada ih pitam šta misle oni kažu ’Zar nisu to oni što hapse novinare?'“ kaže Soner Čagaptaj, direktor Turskog istraživačkog programa na vašingtonskom Institutu za bliskoistočnu politiku.