FT Online: Discussing the Upcoming Presidential Elections in Türkiye, 28 April and 5 May 2023

On the 14th of May 2023, parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in Türkiye. They represent an important moment in Turkish politics and raise questions over its future domestic and foreign policy.  The two main rivals vying for the presidency are Türkiye’s current President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from the Justice and Development (AK) party and Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the secularist Republican People’s party (CHP). To help us understand the implications of the election results we facilitated two meetings with representatives of each party. High-level officials, policymakers and parliamentarians from Europe and the Gulf-MENA region attended including from Iraq, Jordan, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.On Friday the 28th of April, we convened a meeting with Osman Faruk Loğoğlu who retired from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006 after thirty-five years of service. He was the Ambassador of Türkiye to the U.S. from 2001-2005 and from 2011-2014 was the Vice-Chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).On Friday the 5th of May we were joined online by Ambassador Ahmet Yıldız and Abdurrahim Boynukalın who provided analysis from the Justice and Development (AK) Party. H.E. Ahmet Yıldız is an AK Party Member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye. He has served as Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and previously served as the Deputy Foreign Minister of Türkiye. Abdurrahim Boynukalın is a former AK Party Member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and was Deputy Minister at the Ministry for Youth and Sports. Currently, Abdurrahim is the Representative of the Government Party of Türkiye in the United Kingdom.Speakers discussed several important themes. At the domestic level these included: the Turkish economy; the implications of the tragic February 2023 earthquake; issues relating to refugees; human rights; the rule of law; gender issues and educational reform. At the international level, themes included Türkiye’s role in NATO and relationship with the EU.Report from FT Online Discussion with Faruk LoğoğluReport from FT Online Discussion with Ambassador Ahmet Yıldız and Abdurrahim Boynukalın