Overview
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which have ruled Turkey since 2002, have become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, consolidating significant power through constitutional changes and by imprisoning opponents and critics. A deepening economic crisis, devastating earthquake, and elections held in May gave the government new incentives to suppress dissent and limit public discourse in 2023.
Key Developments in 2023
President Erdogan was reelected in a two-round contest in May, defeating Kemal Kılıçdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) amid high turnout. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) observers criticized the election, reporting that state-run media heavily favored the AKP and that Erdoğan repeatedly accused legitimate political opponents of supporting terrorism during the campaign.
Also in May, an AKP-led alliance won majority of parliamentary seats on 49.5 percent of the vote, while a CHP-led alliance won 35 percent. The pro-Kurdish Green Left Party (YSP) won 10.6 percent. Observers said the elections were marred by assembly restrictions, political interference in the electoral process, and other factors.
The government restricted free speech and throttled access to media both in the wake of a devastating earthquake in February and during the campaign period. Authorities restricted access to X—the social media platform previously known as Twitter—following the earthquake and threatened to do so again during the elections; arrested dozens of people for their social media posts; and imposed fines on broadcasters for airing commentary that criticized the government’s disaster response or electoral prospects.
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