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Described as the “World’s Most Important Elections of 2023”, Turkey faces dual presidential and parliamentary votes holding considerable ramifications for its future trajectory, both at home and abroad. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now in power for 20 years between his time in the Presidency and former role as Prime Minister, is seeking to extend his rule for another term. His leadership has seen Turkey pursue an assertive regional foreign policy, the centralisation of control in the executive, and a reversal of many of the secular principles that previously underpinned the modern republic. While his AK (Justice and Development) Party appears poised to remain dominant, popular dissatisfaction with the country’s current direction, in part due to an economic downturn the President has presided over, has raised interest in the prospects of the ‘Table of Six’ – a coalition of six major opposition parties who would undoubtedly initiate a dramatic shift away from the past two decades’ policies. This panel of experts will discuss the election’s significance, probable outcomes, intervening factors and more.

Speakers:

Dr Ahmet Erdi Öztürk | Dr Öztürk is an associate professor of politics and international relations at London Metropolitan University, and a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at Coventry University in the UK and GIGA in Germany (2021-2023). He is also an associate researcher at Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes, and Non-Resident Scholar at ELIAMEP’s Turkey Programme. He is the co-editor of Edinburgh University Press’ Series on Modern Turkey and editor of the International Journal of Religion.
He is the author of more than 30 peer-review journal articles, numerous policy reports, opinion pieces and co-editor of four special issues on religion and politics and Turkish politics. Dr Öztürk is the co-editor of “Authoritarian Politics in Turkey: Elections, Resistance and the AKP”, “Ruin or Resilience? The Future of the Gulen Movement in Transnational Political Exile”, and “Islam, Populism and Regime Change in Turkey”. In January 2021, he published his first solo-authored book, “Religion, Identity and Power: Turkey and the Balkans in the Twenty-First Century”.

Dr Simon A. Waldman | Dr Simon A. Waldman is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Defence Studies at King’s College London. Previously he was a fellow at the Istanbul Policy Center and was an Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. Dr Waldman’s research and teaching focuses on international diplomacy towards the Middle East, state building and leadership in the region, Turkish history and politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Simon is the author of Anglo-American Diplomacy and the Palestinian Refugee Problem and the co-author of “The New Turkey and its Discontents” as well as a range of academic articles and book reviews. Simon is a regular contributor to Haaretz, Israel’s leading progressive newspaper, and writes a monthly column for Avlaremoz, a news and opinion platform about minorities in Turkey and Jews around the world. Simon is currently working towards a master’s in creative writing at the University of Oxford and holds a BSc in Politics and Sociology from Brunel University and a MA and PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London.

Güney Yildiz | Güney Yildiz is a London-based researcher and journalist. He specialises in Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds in the Middle East, and is currently undertaking a PhD at Cambridge focusing on non-state actors in the region. He previously worked at the BBC for 14 years, where he produced award-winning UK and international news stories, and was also a visiting scholar at the Middle East Institute, a fellow at German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
He advised members of the Parliament Foreign Affairs Select Committee as a Specialist Advisor on Turkey, and is regularly consulted by government institutions and the diplomatic community on Turkey, Kurds and the wider region. He has spoken at the US State Department, UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, UK Cabinet Office, the Élysée Palace, Chatham House, RUSI, ECFR, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, the UK Parliament and LSE. He also works as a political and security consultant and conducts investigative journalism focusing on Turkey, the Kurds and Daesh (IS).

Dr Burcu Özçelik | Dr Özçelik holds a PhD in Politics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, and subsequently held the prestigious Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Department of Politics and International Studies where she taught Conflict, Peacebuilding, and the Politics of the Middle East. Dr Özçelik’s research primarily focuses on the international relations of the Middle East, non-state armed actors and peacebuilding. She has extensive experience with Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Israel.
Prior to joining the Herny Jackson Society, Dr Özçelik was an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and has previously worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Turkey and in civil society, focusing on democracy and human rights. In addition to her scholarly articles, Dr Özçelik’s research has been widely published in journals including War on the Rocks, The National Interest, Foreign Affairs, New Lines Magazine, Middle East Eye, the Royal United Services Institute and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr Özçelik also acted as contributing editor of “The politics of race and racialisation in the Middle East” and authored “An Analysis of Seyla Benhabib”.