Local Elections Will Soon Decide Turkey’s Future

Excerpt

It has been less than a year since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Turkey’s presidential election and secured a third term in office, which will last until 2028. Turkey’s constitution (which was most recently amended at Erdogan’s initiative in 2017) states that no person can hold the presidency beyond two terms, a legal inconvenience that Erdogan managed to conveniently sidestep in 2023.

But the key for a continuation of Erdogan’s political career may lie in the local elections scheduled across Turkey for March 31. If Erdogan prevails, he may pursue yet another constitutional reform—and a new commitment to cooperating on policy with far-right political partners.

Sinan Ciddi is an associate professor of national security studies at Marine Corps University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Twitter: @SinanCiddi