Shaping Turkey’s Democratic Future – Turkey at the Crossroads – Is this the End or the Beginning of Democracy?

Recording of the 1st event of our joint series on 29 April 2025 with the Kreisky Forum Shaping Turkey’s Democratic Future – Event Series March 19, 2025, marked a turning point in Turkish history. The detention of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and President Erdoğan’s main political challenger, has been seen as an attack on Turkish democracy — or what remains of it. İmamoğlu’s arrest triggered the largest protests in years. Starting from universities, thousands of people have taken to the streets. The government has responded with police repression and legal prosecution. Students, journalists, and critics have been arrested. However, the regime’s repressive measures have so far led to more rather than less public fury and protest. And the main opposition and (in current polls) first party CHP (Republican People’s Party) has been able to keep the momentum and channel resistance to new areas, such as an economic boycott of pro-government enterprises and a mass signature campaign demanding İmamoğlu’s release and early elections. Turkey is at a critical juncture: will the regime maintain the repressive course or at some point comprise? Will the opposition be able to translate social resistance into a process of change, beginning with İmamoğlu challenging Erdoğan in elections as a free man?What role do — and should — external actors play? What role does the diaspora play? Participants: Şebnem Gümüşçü Middlebury College Seren Selvin Korkmaz IstanPol Istitute, IPC at Sabancı University Murat Somer Özyeğin University, CEU Chair: Cengiz Günay Austrian Institute for International Affairs In cooperation with the Ministry of Defence bmlv.