Policy Forum 

# Turkey’s Centennial Election: What Is at Stake? 

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Date and Time 

May 12, 2023 12 - 1 PM EDT 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

[![Mustafa Akyol Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-11/akyol-cropped-new.jpg?itok=VLgHg13I)](/people/mustafa-akyol) 

[Mustafa Akyol](/people/mustafa-akyol)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/AkyolinEnglish) [ 

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![GonulTol-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-04/GonulTol-cropped.jpg?itok=l0KFpYTw) 

Gönül Tol 

Director of the Center for Turkish Studies, Middle East Institute

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](https://twitter.com/GonulTol) 

[![Ian Vásquez](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Ian%20Vasquez.jpg?itok=yBS_mzpm)](/people/ian-vasquez) 

[Ian Vásquez](/people/ian-vasquez)

Vice President for International Studies, Cato Institute

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](mailto:ivasquez@cato.org) 

On Sunday, May 14, NATO’s most controversial ally will hold perhaps its most fateful elections since its founding in 1923. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been ruling Turkey for 21 years in an increasingly authoritarian and erratic fashion, may win and drag the nation further toward dictatorship. But there is also a chance that the opposition may win, as the race is tight and as Turkey’s elections are still competitive despite dramatic deterioration in the country’s freedoms and rule of law.

Please join us for a discussion of what is at stake just two days prior to what may turn out to be a historic election for Turkey and East-West relations.

**Luncheon to follow**

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