by Jiyaa Revankar | Oct 8, 2026 | Boston University
In March 2026, more than 400 defendants went on trial at the Marmara Prison complex in Silivri, 70 kilometers outside Istanbul. Among them was Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul’s jailed mayor and the leading opposition candidate for president. The charges include corruption,...
by Ali Dinckok | Oct 7, 2026 | Boston University
Democratic erosion does not always happen in the form of a military invasion or by suddenly ending elections. It can happen slowly, with elections, courts and other democratic institutions still in place. What happened recently with Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and...
by Lucas Rie | Oct 7, 2026 | Boston University
On September 30th, Turkey’s Criminal Court of Peace banned T24, a news portal based in the country, for alleged “LGBT Propaganda”. This follows suit in a growing number of interdictions spurned on by Recep Erdoğan, the current president since 2014’s, right leaning and...
by Huiseob Lim | Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University
Turkey still holds elections, yet democratic competition in the country has become increasingly constrained. Freedom House’s 2026 report rates Turkey 32/100 and classifies it as “Not Free,” describing a system in which Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP have...
by Seoyoung Jung | Apr 20, 2026 | George Mason University
Hook In the early 2000s, Turkey looked like a promising case of democracy. Many people believed it could become a stable liberal democracy, even in a Muslim-majority country. However, today, Turkey is often described as an authoritarian regime. So what went wrong? In...
