Civil society leaders today condemned PKR president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's congratulatory message to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for winning a referendum to grant him more executive powers.

Lawyers for Liberty executive director Eric Paulsen said the message was "quite unnecessary" as the Erdogan leadership is not democratic.

"Turkey under Erdogan can hardly be described as 'democratic'. How many journalists, cartoonists, academics, writers, judges, politicians are under politically-motivated detention in Turkey right now?" he asked in a tweet.

In her message yesterday, Wan Azizah said Turkey is a role model for the developing world in its "consistent exercise of democracy, economic growth and the betterment of the living conditions of its people".

She also slammed "Western democracies" for being critical towards Erdogan but taking an "ambivalent" stance on alleged kleptocracy, media control and electoral manipulation in Malaysia.

Paulsen was echoed by the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel.

"Indeed a very questionable position for an opposition leader to take," she said in a tweet.

Wan Azizah should have incorporated some fundamental issues faced by the Turkish people into her statement, she later elaborated.

"The people of Turkey and civil society are under a lot of oppression.

"Whatever political comment (about the referendum results) needs to take into consideration the human rights violations, the need to restore the independence of all the institutions in order for the check and balance of power to be exercised," she said.

'Critics killed, charged, in exile'

In recent years, Erdogan's Turkey has cracked down on public protests, critical media and Kurdish opposition politicians, reported Human Rights Watch.

Five journalists were killed between 2015-2016, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists website.

Human Rights Watch further reported that more than 120 journalists and media workers have been jailed pending trial.

Can Dündar, for example, was sentenced to five years ten months in prison last June after his newspaper Cumhuriyet published video footage of Turkish state intelligence agents smuggling weapons to Syrian rebels.

He is now in exile in Germany.

Last month, the Turkish government jailed 13 pro-Kurdish democratic opposition members and took direct control of the Kurdish southeast region as well as suspending and incarcerating elected mayors from the region.

"If you look at the number of people like journalists, civil society, and the opposition who have been jailed and killed, some fundamental human rights have been compromised in the whole upheaval," said Cynthia.

Separately, Parti Sosialis Malaysia leader S Arutchelvam said Wan Azizah has the right to congrulate Erdogan but should be mindful of what she says.

Artuchelvam said he himself was supportive of the act of calling a referendum but not necessarily the results in Turkey.

“I think the problem is when (there is a) concentration (of) power in one person, that is problematic but the people of Turkey have voted it,” he said.

"I think she (Wan Azizah) has a right as the president of PKR to congratulate (Erdogan), that is her right.

"She has the right to support or not support, but she has to be responsible for whatever she says," added Arutchelvam.

A key concern of critics of the referendum results is a further loss of judicial independence, as the new constitution allows the Turkish president to control the appointment of judges and prosecutors.

PKR has close ties with Erdogan's AK Party, with PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim previously praising the Turkish PM for being an example of a moderate and progressive Muslim leader.