[Seminar] Turkey under Erdogan: Quo vadis?

Turkish president Erdogan has managed to secure another win both for his presidency and for his Justice and Development Party in the elections that took place in May 2023. Despite all odds - an economic downturn, a devastating earthquake and big parts of the Turkish opposition joining forces - Erdogan emerged victorious in elections that were deemed free, but far from being fair.

The seminar 'Turkey under Erdogan: Quo vadis' (28 September 2023, at 15.00 hrs at the Asser Institute in The Hague) will take stock of more than two decades of rule under Erdogan for Turkey, focusing on Turkish democracy and its foreign policy. The past and possible future direction of Turkish foreign policy has important implications for Europe, especially in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Some of the questions to be addressed in the seminar are:

• What does another five years under Erdogan mean for the Turkish republic and Turkish democracy?
• Is it doomed to remain a ‘ballot-box democracy’?
• At the centennial of the republic, is it able to live up to the legacy of its founder Kemal Ataturk?
• What about Turkish Foreign Policy (TFP): are we to expect continuity or change?
• Will Turkey be able to keep supporting Ukraine and continue its cooperation on various fronts with Russia?
• What is one to expect on the EU-Turkey front?
• Will Erdogan continue to cooperate with the EU in the field of migration?
• Will the update of the Customs Union be placed on the agenda?

Programme:
15.00 – 15.05 Welcome
15.05 – 15.20 Assistant Professor Alp Yenen, Leiden University, “Turkish democracy under Erdogan”
15.20 – 15.35 Professor Müge Kınacıoğlu, Leiden University, “Turkish Foreign Policy under Erdogan”
15.35 – 15.50 Adjunct Professor Demir Murat Seyrek, Brussels School of Governance and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, “EU-Turkey relations”
15.50 – 16.30 Q&A
16.30     Reception