Turkey has once again ranked among the world’s lowest-performing countries on the rule of law, placing 118th out of 143 in the 2025 Rule of Law Index published by the World Justice Project (WJP).
The report signals that the erosion of judicial independence, human rights and checks on government power in Turkey is continuing with no sign of reversal.
According to the WJP, Turkey’s overall score fell by another 1.9 percent compared to last year, putting it among the world’s steepest annual declines. The index measures how effectively laws are applied, whether government officials are held accountable and whether citizens’ fundamental rights are protected.
Turkey ranked 136th for constraints on government powers and 134th for fundamental rights, scoring lowest in areas tied to judicial independence and executive accountability. Within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, Turkey remained near the bottom of the table, performing worse than Belarus and only one place ahead of the Russian Federation.
The WJP said the rule of law had weakened in 68 percent of the countries surveyed this year, marking the eighth consecutive year of global decline. The report cites growing executive interference, shrinking civic space and a loss of judicial independence as key causes.
Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Germany again topped the index, while Venezuela, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Haiti ranked the lowest.
The WJP Rule of Law Index 2025 measures how the rule of law is experienced by ordinary people in 143 countries and jurisdictions, using data from more than 215,000 household surveys and 4,100 legal experts. It evaluates eight factors: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice and criminal justice.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has faced longstanding criticism for eliminating the separation of powers, especially since the country’s transition to an executive presidential system of governance in 2018. The system, introduced after a 2017 constitutional referendum, granted the president sweeping authority over the judiciary and other state institutions.
Human rights organizations say the aftermath of a 2016 coup attempt, which triggered a mass purge of judges, prosecutors and civil servants, left Turkey’s judiciary dependent on the executive branch.
The World Justice Project, a Washington-based nonprofit, publishes the Rule of Law Index annually to assess how fairly and effectively countries uphold the rule of law.