The different aspects of Turkey’s “authoritarian slide” were the focus of a special hearing held Wednesday before the House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee.

The European Commission has lashed out at Turkey, which has excluded Cyprus from preparatory meetings ahead of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, calling Ankara’s stance “unacceptable”.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are asking Secretary of State Marco Rubio to clarify whether public statements made by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, reflect the official position of the American government.