Freedom House with deportation unless they ceased their political activities.31 The police reportedly targeted people based on a list of activists that was produced and distributed by the consulate.32 As with the increasingly harsh treatment of Uyghur activists, the mounting pressure on the small Turkmenistani diaspora coincided with Ankara’s efforts to increase cooperation with Turkmenistan’s government, including a bid to persuade Ashgabat to become a member of the Turkic Council ahead of the organization’s summit meeting in Istanbul in November 2021.33 Authoritarian cooperation The fact that most incidents of transnational repression in 2021 took place in countries with a Not Free status demonstrates the impact of rising authoritarianism on human rights around the world. As more countries fall under the control of nondemocratic governments, authoritarian leaders will gain more willing partners for cross-border persecution. Autocrats facilitate one another’s efforts to silence dissent because they operate according to a shared set of illiberal values. Common forms of cooperation include making and granting extradition requests, or locating and detaining individuals accused of political crimes by another government. This type of cooperation takes advantage of a lack of respect for political rights and civil liberties in the host country. For example, courts that lack independence will fail to protect the rights of both foreign and domestic activists. Police who routinely detain fellow citizens for exercising their freedom of speech will not hesitate to apply the same penalties to foreign activists criticizing other nondemocratic governments. Migration systems that rarely enforce safeguards against nonrefoulement will readily expel people who are in danger of being tortured or abused in their countries of origin. Security and intelligence services with a shared legacy of carrying out the orders of autocratic leaders will work together to capture political opponents. Such historical and institutional bonds benefited, for example, Lukashenka’s transnational repression campaign in Russia. Moscow’s treatment of Central Asian activists and Ankara’s treatment of Uyghurs and Turkmenistani nationals illustrate a second feature of authoritarian cooperation: Nondemocratic governments can act on their own initiative to harass, intimidate, and harm activists campaigning within their borders against foreign but like-minded governments. In these cases, there may be no direct or specific request from the origin state. Instead, the host country’s regime is pursuing its own perceived interests, which are based in part on a vision of the world that rejects freedom of speech and the right to criticize those in power. As more countries fall under the control of nondemocratic governments, authoritarian leaders will gain more willing partners for cross-border persecution. Detaining Uyghurs and threatening Turkmenistani activists both serve Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s foreign policy goals of closer economic ties with China and Turkmenistan. The Kremlin’s expulsion of Central Asian activists supports its relationship with neighboring authoritarian governments. Secret, handwritten agreements between the Arab monarchs of the Persian Gulf empower each government to unilaterally restrict dissent among the others’ exiles, effectively outsourcing transnational repression altogether.34 All of these states have an interest in enforcing the norm that dissent is unwelcome wherever it occurs. 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 the 2018 Istanbul murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Riyadh.35 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 historically poor relations with the Saudi leadership, particularly in light of Turkey’s worsening economic situation and its need for foreign investment. Combined with the intimidation of dissidents on behalf of Beijing and other authoritarian governments, the move sent a clear message that economic partnerships were being prioritized over human rights. More people are likely to face the threat of transnational repression as authoritarian cooperation increases and political rights and civil liberties continue to deteriorate in countries around the world. freedomhouse.org 7