Turkey: A Land of Stunning Coastlines and Jailed Dissidents

Excerpt On Wednesday, Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay became the latest—and the most consequential—opposition mayor to defect to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP). His departure from the Republican People’s Party (CHP), one of 44 since March 2024, broke Izmir’s nearly 30-year streak as an opposition stronghold. But these municipal-level defections have not occurred in isolation and, instead, follow the numerous, politically motivated arrests and targeting of opposition mayors and elected officials. Many Turks see them as far more than a betrayal. For them, it is evidence of democratic erosion in Erdogan’s pursuit of power. Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of the Turkey program, where Isabella Bournas is an intern.