After Erdogan? Turkish Politics at the Crossroads
| Author | Alexander Clarkson |
| DOI | 10.1177/20419058221108777 |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
JUNE 2022•POLITICAL INSIGHT17
On a brisk spring morning in
Istanbul, dozens of onlookers at
the 13th Assize court gasped in
shock as philanthropist Osman
Kavala and seven others were sentenced to 18
years in prison without parole. The defendants
had been found guilty of attempting to
overthrow of the Turkish government.
Though the outcome was expected, its harsh
terms were still a profound shock to Turkey’s
civil society and even many experienced
observers of Turkish politics. Separately, Canan
Kaftancıoğlu, a senior gure in the opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP), was given
a suspended prison sentence and banned
from politics for social media posts. With this
growing clampdown, the strategy President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice
After Erdogan? Turkish
Politics at the Crossroads
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics for two decades. As
Erdogan ramps up repression at home and tensions abroad ahead of next
year’s elections, Alexander Clarkson argues that the EU and its allies need
to do much more if Turkey’s anti-Western turn is to be reversed.
and Development Party (AKP) will pursue to
preserve their grip on power in the build-up
to elections in 2023 has become increasingly
clear.
These moves against Kavala, Kaftancıoğlu
and many others linked to civil society and the
opposition in Turkey, have been accompanied
by growing hints from within the AKP that
a judicial ruling that bans the popular CHP
Mayor of Istanbul and potential presidential
candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu might come next.
Having jailed Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader
of the left-wing and heavily Kurdish HDP in
November 2016, the ongoing crackdown
against opposition voices is now spreading.
© Xinhua / Alamy Stock Photo
Political Insight June 2022.indd 17Political Insight June 2022.indd 1701/06/2022 11:4901/06/2022 11:49
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