Turkey’s post-election politics: towards the end of the Erdoğan era?

DAĞI İ. D.

Turkish Studies, vol.26, no.3, pp.427-448, 2025 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 26 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2025
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/14683849.2025.2458488
  • Journal Name: Turkish Studies
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.427-448
  • Keywords: Justice and Development Party, local elections, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Republican People’s Party, Turkish politics
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Turkey’s local elections of 2024 exposed the vulnerabilities of the ruling AKP and highlighted the electoral potential of the opposition CHP. The results provided the CHP motivation and momentum while calling into question the AKP’s position as a dominant party. Analyzing the outcome and discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the incumbent and the opposition, this article examines the implications of the election results for Turkey's political trajectory including the likelihood of exiting its competitive authoritarian cycle. Its analysis is grounded in the competitive authoritarian setting of the current regime without attempting to theorize or generalize post-election political developments.