Mainstream academic and policy literature emphasises the nexus between an increase in civil society institutions and greater political accountability. As a result, support for civil society has become central to international policy efforts to strengthen democracy in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. However, the empirical evidence presented in this paper questions the accuracy of this assumption. Drawing upon semi-structured interview data collected from civil society organisations (CSOs) in each of the seven administrative regions of Turkey, the paper analyses the relationship between the governing Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi -AKP) and civil society in Turkey. The results that emerge demonstrate that the AKP government are creating their ‘own civil society’ as a method of drowning out critical voices that might challenge their authority. Independent CSOs report that they are becoming increasingly excluded from policy and legislative discussions as CSOs that ‘toe the party line’ are created to replace them. These findings, which are supplemented by an analysis of policy and government White Paper documents, suggest that an increase in the number of civil society organisations in Turkey is serving to sustain the government’s power rather than increasing political accountability to the people. These results and their implications have significant consequences for our understanding and general theorising of civil society and its role in supporting democracy.