Turkey has moved to clamp down on protesters, control the media and Internet and weaken the rule of law, Human Rights Watch has said.

In a new report the new York-based human rights group highlighted on Monday that “Turkey is undergoing a worrying rollback of human rights”.

The report said that over the past nine months the Turkish government had weakened the rule of law by responding to a corruption scandal with legislation that curbs the independence of the judiciary in an effort to stifle corruption investigations.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power for 12 years under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has also stepped up censorship over Internet. In addition, legislative changes had been introduced that give the government wider surveillance powers and increase penalties for whistleblowers and journalists who publish leaked intelligence data.

Erdogan won the presidential vote last month despite unprecedented protests and corruption allegations against his inner circle. The authorities have blamed the allegations on Erdogan's former ally, the US-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen.

“Winning successive elections by large majorities, President Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and AKP government ministers appear to take the view that majoritarian power takes precedence over the rule of law,” the report said.

A  major corruption scandal came to light in December last year when Turkish police announced arrests and criminal investigations in cases implicating senior government officials and members of their families.

The government responded by adopting laws that curb judicial independence and weaken the rule of law, Human Rights Watch said.

The government also reassigned judges, prosecutors, and police officers, closed down two of the investigations, and stepped up efforts to silence social media and traditional media outlets reporting on the issues, feeling no hesitancy to intervene in the criminal justice system when its interests are threatened.

“Significant obstacles remain to securing justice for victims of serious human rights abuses by police, military, and state officials, creating what amounts to a culture of impunity,” the report said.

According to Human Rights Watch, Turkey needs more robust and independent official bodies and oversight mechanisms to monitor the public officials’conduct in the exercise of their public duties.

“These bodies should promote accountable and transparent governance and make strong recommendations on human rights issues alongside civil society organizations,” the report said.

Human Rights Watch also warned that Turkey‘s authoritarian drift could push it further away from building closer ties with the European Union.

According to Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher Human Rights Watch who wrote the report, the country is unlikely to succeed in moving closer to membership of the EU unless its leaders “take steps to reverse the rollback on rights and strengthen the rule of law.”