Washington, D.C. — Turkey’s general election on June 7 is shaping up to be the closest in a decade. A few percentage points either way could determine if the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, will secure another majority in parliament or be forced to form a coalition for the first time in its 13 years of rule. An outright AKP win could see President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s vision of transforming Turkey from a parliamentary system to a presidential system come to fruition with repercussions for Turkey’s domestic political freedoms and its relationships in the region and with the West.
The vote will also decide if the mostly Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, will be represented in Ankara, which could shape the fate of the government’s peace negotiations with Kurdish rebels and, in the worst case scenario, risk renewed fighting within this key U.S. ally.
The Center for American Progress will host a distinguished panel of experts on June 9, 2015, to analyze the results and discuss the new landscape of Turkish politics and U.S.-Turkey relations.
WHO:
Welcoming remarks:
Michael Werz, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Panelists:
Soner Cagaptay, Director, Turkish Research Program, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Alan Makovsky, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Nora Fisher Onar, Transatlantic Academy Fellow, German Marshall Fund; Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford
Suat Kınıklıoğlu, Mercator Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Moderator:
Gönül Tol, Founding Director, Center for Turkish Studies, Middle East Institute
WHEN:
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
12:00 p.m. ET – 1:30 p.m. ET
RSVP for this event
WHERE:
Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, D.C., 20005
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.
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