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Edgar Şar is a Co-founder and the current Co-Director of Istanbul Political Research Institute (IstanPol). He received his PhD degree in political science from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. His research interests include (de-)democratization, opposition strategies in authoritarian regimes, secularism and state-society-religion relations, and constitutional law. Dr Şar was previously a CATS Fellow at SWP Berlin, German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and is currently a Research Affiliate at CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest.
What Comes Next for Turkey? Prospects for Change on the Political, Economic, and Foreign Policy Fronts
After two decades in power and following the Justice and Development Party’s historic defeat in the 2024 local elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now at his most vulnerable. What comes next is not only important for the future prospects of Turkish democracy but also holds important lessons for autocrats across the world. Scholars Evren Balta, Seda Demiralp, Edgar Şar, and M. Murat Kubilay seek to answer key questions about the country’s political, economic, and foreign policy trajectory in a new report from the Middle East Institute.
If the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) were to take a more active role in efforts to peacefully resolve the Kurdish issue in Turkey, it could potentially help to break the current impasse. What this role might entail and whether the party is capable of playing it effectively are key questions. This piece will explore these issues by examining the experience of its predecessor, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), over the past decade, as well as the debates following the May 2023 general elections and March 2024 local elections.
