So it makes sense
Turkey is a NATO member that is simultaneously weighing entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — and that straddle defines its entire foreign policy. It controls the straits through which Russian grain and oil pass, hosts the world’s largest refugee population, and its economy operates in a mode that would count as a crisis elsewhere.
- Who governs
- The president is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose power rests on the presidential system introduced in 2018. The government openly weighs full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and insists it is not a turn away from NATO or the West. The economy is under strain: corporate credit debt rose 38 % in a year and non-performing loans by 226 %.
- Who opposes
- The main opposition party is the Republican People’s Party (CHP) led by Özgür Özel; its best-known face is Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. The pressure on the opposition is tangible — prosecutors are investigating former prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu for insulting the president, and individual councillors are defecting from the CHP to the governing AKP.
- Next election
- The next presidential and parliamentary elections are expected in 2028.
