DEFENDING DEMOCRACY IN EXILE Policy Responses to Transnational Repression Turkey’s domestic security responses to transnational repression against members of various diasporas living in the country—the choice between aggressive protection, indifference, and active persecution—are driven by foreign policy considerations. increasingly divorced from Turkey’s waning domestic support for Uyghur Turks. The increasingly precarious legal situation of Uyghurs in Turkey disincentivizes political activism among this diaspora and, in an indirect way, accomplishes one of the primary goals of transnational repression: silencing dissent. Turkey’s response to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was swift, pointed, and costly. Within weeks of the assassination, progovernment newspapers in Turkey had published transcripts of the audio recording of the killing. Turkish officials also shared the recordings with European and American governments in an effort to drum up support for a multilateral response to Saudi Arabia.19 Turkey’s intelligence services publicly described the makeup of the Saudi “hit squad” and preparations for the 4 @FreedomHouse murder.20 President Erdoğan stopped short of accusing Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman personally of the murder but laid the blame squarely on the Saudi government. He also demanded that the suspects be extradited from Saudi Arabia to Turkey in order to be tried, repeatedly emphasizing that the murder took place on Turkish soil.21 Turkey ended up paying a significant price for its response to this act of transnational repression. International partners, including the United States, were slow to respond and Saudi Arabia instituted a costly unofficial boycott of Turkish goods and travel to the country.22 Like in other cases of transnational repression on its soil, Turkey’s reaction was conditioned by its existing fraught relationship with the Kingdom. The two countries supported opposite sides in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Egypt and during the 2017–21 Saudiled blockade of Qatar.23 As this report was being finalized, Turkey’s government agreed to a request from Saudi authorities to transfer the trial being held in connection with Khashoggi’s murder to Riyadh.24 The decision amounted to an abandonment of Ankara’s efforts to pursue accountability for a heinous assassination committed on its territory, and it reflected Erdoğan’s desire to improve his relations with the Saudi leadership, particularly in light of Turkey’s worsening economic situation and its need for foreign investment. Just as with Turkmenistan and China, foreign policy considerations rather than human rights concerns have driven Turkey’s security responses to transnational repression. #TransnationalRepression