Two weeks ago we urged the international community to carefully monitor developments in Turkey as we had concerns that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would use the failed coup attempt on July 15 to justify authoritarian rule in that country.

Specifically, we had feared that the mass arrests taking place would morph into an overreach in the Government’s thirst for revenge.

Given all that has happened since then, it is obvious that our concerns are legitimate, as Mr Erdogan’s Government has so far arrested more than 9,000 people and detained thousands more.

Of grave concern to us is a report that detention warrants have been issued for at least 80 journalists who the Turkish Government suspect of having ties with Mr Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States and who President Erdogan has accused of orchestrating the coup attempt.

In addition, news reports have informed us that more than 1,000 members of the Turkish military, including 127 generals and 32 admirals accused of having connections to Mr Gulen have been also dismissed.

Another worrying development is the Government-ordered shutdown of 45 newspapers, three news agencies, 16 television channels, 15 magazines, and 29 publishers last week.

We cannot disagree with human rights groups that have accused the Erdogan Administration of using the failed putsch to silence journalists who have been critical of the Government.

Indeed, Ms Nina Ognianov, co-ordinator of the Europe and Central Asia programme of the Committee to Protect Journalists, is correct in arguing that, “Journalists should not pay the price for military officers’ unlawful attempt to overthrow the Government.”

While we hold firmly to the belief that people who seek to overthrow democratically elected governments ought to face the full force of the law, we cannot sanction President Erdogan’s obvious push to silence dissent.

What President Erdogan is doing now is abusing and betraying the very democracy that brought him to power. In fact, he is laying the foundation for anarchy, as his opponents will no doubt stiffen their resolve to use illegitimate means to get him out of office.

And, he hasn’t lessened that possibility by declaring last Friday that he was, as a one-off gesture, dropping all lawsuits against the people charged with insulting him.

Obviously, President Erdogan is thin-skinned, a characteristic that does not mix well with politics. If he, in his role as president, cannot live with criticism and insults, he should retreat to private life.

In the same breath, he needs to accept that the attitude of many countries over the coup attempt in Turkey is not “shameful in the name of democracy”, as he has declared, but a deep concern for his Government’s undemocratic actions thus far.