In light of the recent wave of arrests targeting politicians of the main opposition party CHP – including the prominent Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu – and the subsequent mass protests across the country, an intense debate has erupted in Turkey on whether Erdoğan’s regime is currently shifting from a competitive to a full authoritarian regime.
So far, the CHP under its chairman Özgür Özel has been able to effectively mobilize protesters and has managed to prevent President Erdogan from placing Istanbul’s city administration or the CHP itself under state-appointed trusteeship. However, it has not yet succeeded in securing the release of its key representatives. Hence, there is growing speculation that elections in Turkey may be abolished altogether in the near future, and that Erdoğan can no longer be voted out of office. The following conversation with Ulrike Flader addresses these and related questions.
Dr. Ulrike Flader is a senior lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Cultural Research and member of the research group “Soft Authoritarianisms” at the University of Bremen. She has been a close observer of the political development in Turkey for many years and is conducting research on its current authoritarian government.
The interview was conducted on 30th March 2025 by Dr. Çetin Gürer, political and social scientist and Associated Fellow at the Institute of Intercultural and International Studies (InIIS), University of Bremen. Cetin Gürer:’s research interests lie in the field of peace and conflict studies, pluralism and models of autonomy, the Kurdish Question and politics and society in Turkey. He is a regular commentator on current issues in Turkey for the media.