Murat Somer

Murat Somer on X: "Thank you for this supportive intervention @nytimes . I must say the following, however: democrats and democratic countries in the world should support the anti-autocracy and pro-democracy movement in Turkey, and its jailed presidential candidate @imamoglu_int, not because he" / X Thank you for this supportive intervention @nytimes . I must say the following, however: democrats and democratic countries in the world should support the anti-autocracy and pro-democracy movement in Turkey, and its jailed presidential candidate @imamoglu_int, not because he

+ x.com/murat_somer_...

+They should because democrats in Turkey, US, Israel & others struggle for shared goals (democracy, rule of law & human rights), & against the same autocratic/oligarchic governing style of Erdoğan, Trump and Netanyahu. They share similar aspirations and challenges, & their future is interconnected+

Opinion | Turkey’s People Are Resisting Autocracy. They Deserve More Than Silence. (Gift Article) The world’s democracies can speak up to make Erdogan’s life less comfortable.

Thank you @nytimes.com. However: democrats & democratic countries should support the anti-autocracy and pro-democracy movement in Turkey, and its jailed presidential candidate @ekremimamoglu.com, not because he and Turkey will follow any particular foreign policy ++
nytimes.com/2025/04/27/o...

All Together or None of Us – Part II: Turkey’s New Democracy Movement and Future | Review of Democracy When Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested, Turkey’s democratic future reached a breaking point. In this two-part series, Murat Somer examines how that moment united the long-divided social a...

+The evolving strategies of Turkey's Democracy Movement to practice constructive polarization, merge party and contentious politics, tap popular will outside elections, and use purchasing power against oligarchy, offer many insights. revdem.ceu.edu/2025/04/24/t...

All Together or None of Us – Part II: Turkey’s New Democracy Movement and Future | Review of Democracy When Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested, Turkey’s democratic future reached a breaking point. In this two-part series, Murat Somer examines how that moment united the long-divided social a...

How do you confront an elected government determined to crush opposition and immune to both legal constraint and reasoned debate?" ++ revdem.ceu.edu/2025/04/24/t...

✍️ In the second part of his article, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social explores the Turkish democracy movement’s evolving strategies, emerging alliances, and political stakes for #Turkey’s future. 🇹🇷

🧑‍💻 Read it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/ms8ftkjw

All Together or None of Us – Part I: The Arrest that Sparked Turkey’s Democratic Uprising | Review of Democracy When Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was arrested, Turkey’s democratic future reached a breaking point. In this two-part series, Murat Somer examines how that moment united the long-divided social a...

We urgently need domestic & global strategies for democracy to prevail in the deepening global democracy-autocracy cleavage. Turkey's battle offers many insights. Especially how the opposition has been leaning and evolving. Here is the first part of my article 👇
revdem.ceu.edu/2025/04/23/a...

✍️ In the first part of his article, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social analyzes how the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor triggered mass resistance and united the long-divided social and political opposition in #Turkey. 🇹🇷

🧑‍💻 Read it now:
👉 tinyurl.com/mu6syjes

#TurkeyProtests

Join our panel on 29 April at 17:00:

Turkey at the Crossroads – Is this the End or the Beginning of Democracy?

With
@sebnemgumuscu.bsky.social @selvinkorkmaz.bsky.social @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social
@cengizgunay.bsky.social
@kreiskyforum.bsky.social

Register 👉 www.oiip.ac.at/events/shapi...

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

What we're reading: A global study of democratic backsliding & resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks, from @jennifermccoy.bsky.social, @beattyriedl.bsky.social, Kenneth Roberts, and @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social in @goodauth.bsky.social
goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

CEU Democracy Institute @CEUDemInst
✍️📄 In his paper in the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, our @OSUNForum
Fellow @murat_somer_eng discusses democratic backsliding in Turkey.
Details:
👉 cutt.ly/srsoIbAp

‘It’s disinformation’: Turkish state TV avoids any coverage of mass street protests News of protests has been preserve of a few newspapers and channels outside well funded pro-government networks

As masses take to the streets in Istanbul, the largely peaceful protests are absent, or shown as a threat, on mainstream media – 85% of which have ties to the govt. "It's disinformation, it's as simple as that," @muratsomer.bsky.social tells @ruthmichaelson.com.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Excellent article/warning by ‪@lgamboa.bsky.social‬. Backsliding in US is already at an advanced stage (started in first Trump administration & even earlier, Biden era being lost opp. to revert). This should unite alarmists and cautioners over strategies informed by other cases in the world.

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

New op-ed out @goodauth.bsky.social based on our global research w Ken Roberts, @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social @jennifermccoy.bsky.social
Timely lessons re pressure on institutions and nature of pro-democracy coalitions

goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

What can the U.S. learn from other countries living through threats to democracy? Lessons from our global research and 15 case studies distilled in my new commentary with @beattyriedl.bsky.social Ken Roberts, and @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social include: (1/3)
goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

U.S. democracy is under attack. Here are some lessons for democracy’s defenders. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.

U.S. democracy is under attack. A global study of democratic backsliding and resilience offers ways to resist authoritarian attacks.
(@jennifermccoy.bsky.social @beattyriedl.bsky.social Kenneth Roberts @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social @goodauth.bsky.social)
goodauthority.org/news/us-demo...

A Long Battle: Turkey’s Backsliding and Resistance Through Trench Warfare - Murat Somer, 2024 Since 2002, governments led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party have taken Turkey’s political regime from electoral democracy to electoral autocracy. This has...

+ Here is my recent analysis that also sheds light on the current episode and the ways out. Open-access now: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

A Long Battle: Turkey’s Backsliding and Resistance Through Trench Warfare - Murat Somer, 2024 Since 2002, governments led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party have taken Turkey’s political regime from electoral democracy to electoral autocracy. This has...

+While the social and political opposition seem to have mostly been on the losing side of this process, they have also put up comparatively very strong resistance.. and have engaged in a lot of learning and experimentation over time. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

A Long Battle: Turkey’s Backsliding and Resistance Through Trench Warfare - Murat Somer, 2024 Since 2002, governments led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party have taken Turkey’s political regime from electoral democracy to electoral autocracy. This has...

What has been happening in Turkey in recent weeks is the latest stage of a two-decades long battle between democracy & autocracy, where Erdoğan governments have been gradually replacing Turkey's preexisting defective yet well-established democracy with autocracy. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

+(and simply forget the autocracy option and join the democratic side of the deepening democracy-autocracy cleavage in the world) for the sake of Turkey's interests as well as Europe's, Eurasia's and Middle East's security and well-being.

+This starts a long proces that can culminate in either re-democratization or descent to full autocracy. Democrats all over the world should pressure the Erdoğan government to rely on compromise rather than force in this process +

Turkish citizens are voting for democracy with their feet and willpower that defies unlawful government bans. Based on opinion polls, Erdoğan government is already a minority government. The release of elected officials beginning with İmamoğlu and early elections are the opposition's main demands+

The EU should open up all channels of cooperation and integration including SAFE, BUT make it conditional on unconditional democratization.. Very good pitch by my former student and now great colleague Semuhi Sinanoğlu www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/27/03/2...

Turkey’s main opposition party, CHP, has called for street protests & targeted boycotts against companies linked to President Erdogan.

It’s taking these steps because it realises that Erdogan has now erased peaceful opponents’ ability to hold him accountable through Turkey’s courts or ballot box.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

🔔Out now!🔔

"Democratic Backsliding: How It Happens and How It Can Be Countered," ed. by @jennifermccoy.bsky.social @beattyriedl.bsky.social @muratsomer-eng.bsky.social & Kenneth Roberts, with articles from @carnegieendowment.org's Thomas Carothers and @milanv.bsky.social.

Read the issue here!👇

Imamoglu's biggest crime is to be a successful opposition mayor under a regime of authoritarian mediocrity.

Turkey's pro-democracy opposition is now trying a new bottom-up strategy of "constructive polarization". Contentious politics is one strategy it had shied away from in the last 23 years. My article evaluating all this just came out👇open-access for now
journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

@muratsomer-eng.bsky.social: "Turkish student reading Jean Jacque Rousseau's Social Contract in defiance of anti-terror armoured vehicles. Ankara, Middle East Technical University ODTÜ campus. What Erdoğan government is trying to do is a clear civilan coup attempt against democracy for two reasons:

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science - Volume 712, Number 1 Table of contents for The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 712, 1

The issue includes case studies of democratic backsliding (& resistance), including:

🇮🇳 #India by @milanv.bsky.social
🇻🇪 #Venezuela by @lgamboa.bsky.social
🇹🇷 #Turkey by
@muratsomer-eng.bsky.social
& 🇲🇼 #Malawi by @tallmanfromzomba.bsky.social and yours truly.

journals.sagepub.com/toc/anna/712/1