What common ground will Theresa May find with President Erdogan?

When Turkey’s President Erdogan visits Theresa May in Downing Street on Tuesday, he will no doubt be on his best behaviour and control his baser instincts. Otherwise, as he will be met by a Free Turkey Media demonstration organised by English PEN, he could do as he has done earlier – as in Washington and Ecuador – and call on his bodyguards to beat up demonstrators.

Of course, if it had been Turkey, they wouldn’t have been allowed to demonstrate, but if they had, they would not only have been beaten up but also incarcerated. Remember the Gezi Park uprising five years ago when over 8,000 were injured, 8 killed and 5,300 were arrested? Since the abortive coup in July 2016, matters have not improved. In what President Erdogan himself called ‘a gift from God’, there has been a massive purge of the regime’s opponents, real and imagined. 152,000 have been dismissed, including the military, police, teachers, academics, judges and prosecutors and health service personnel, 160,000 have been detained and 77,000 arrested.