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Turkey's last tracked vote was the Turkey 2023 Parliamentary Election in 2023.
Turkey's political landscape includes 4 elections, 164 political parties, and 1 office.
ByNorth
Verdict: Turkey transitioned from a parliamentary to a presidential system in 2018, concentrating executive power in the presidency under Erdogan.
Turkey is a presidential republic following a 2017 constitutional referendum that abolished the office of prime minister. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan holds executive power and has governed since 2003 (as PM until 2014, then as president). The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is a unicameral parliament with 600 seats.
This page covers Turkey's transition to presidentialism, the AKP's dominance, the role of the Grand National Assembly, and the state of opposition politics.
Turkey has NATO's second-largest military by personnel and a rapidly growing domestic defense industry.
Key insight. NATO's second-largest military by personnel and a fast-growing drone industry — Turkey has used force in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and the eastern Mediterranean. Post-2016 purges and politicized command have left institutional damage that does not show up in spending figures.
Defense spending uses SIPRI-backed 2024 estimates; personnel uses IISS-backed counts.
Turkish Grand National Assembly election held May 2023 concurrently with the presidential vote. AKP-led alliance retained a parliamentary majority.
Turkish presidential election held May 2023. Erdogan narrowly defeated challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff, extending his two-decade grip on power.
Turkish Grand National Assembly election held June 2018 alongside the presidential vote. Erdoğan's AKP won the most seats but required coalition support from the nationalist MHP.
Turkish presidential election held June 2018. Recep Tayyip Erdogan won re-election in the first round under the new executive presidential system.
Hannah Lucinda Smith
On the ground in Turkey as Erdoğan consolidated power — nationalism, religion, and the destruction of liberal norms.
View on Amazon
Soner Çağaptay
How Erdoğan transformed Turkey from a pro-Western democracy into a hybrid authoritarian state.
Listen on Audible
Marc David Baer
A sweeping reinterpretation of the Ottoman Empire's 600-year political legacy.
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Country Feedback
Country data is assembled from structured entity records, election results, and office timelines.
One email a week. Elections worth watching, sharpest pages of the week, the thing most people misread about a country you'd recognise. No hot takes, no churn.
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Political party
Turkish Grand National Assembly election held June 2018 alongside the presidential vote. Erdoğan's AKP won the most seats but required coalition support from the nationalist MHP.
Turkish presidential election held June 2018. Recep Tayyip Erdogan won re-election in the first round under the new executive presidential system.
Turkish Grand National Assembly election held May 2023 concurrently with the presidential vote. AKP-led alliance retained a parliamentary majority.
Turkish presidential election held May 2023. Erdogan narrowly defeated challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a runoff, extending his two-decade grip on power.
