CIVICUS discusses the current crackdown on Turkish civil society and political opposition with Berna Akkızal, Director of the Civic Space Studies Association, an independent human rights organisation that works to protect and broaden civic space in Turkey.

Turkish authorities have intensified repression of civil society, including protest movements, and the political opposition in recent years, using courts, detentions and bans on public gatherings to suppress dissent. The pressure is increasing as the 2028 presidential election approaches, raising concern that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is using state institutions to eliminate political rivals.

What have been the latest attacks on civil society and the opposition?

Turkey has experienced a systematic crackdown on civil society and the political opposition in recent years. Repression now extends well beyond political figures, affecting academic life, freedom of expression and the right to protest. The arrest of elected mayors and their replacement by government-appointed trustees, in usurpation of the popular will expressed at the ballot box, has become routine.

New repressive tools are now being used that directly violate personal rights. Istanbul University’s revocation of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s diploma, days before his 2025 arrest, created a deep sense of injustice among young people. That a diploma earned through years of effort can be revoked for political reasons shows how far the rule of law has been eroded.

Authorities have closed public squares, banned film screenings and cracked down harshly on events such as Pride and International Women’s Day, making it virtually impossible to exercise the right to protest. Thousands of students and activists were detained in protests that erupted following İmamoğlu’s arrest.

Why is Erdoğan stepping up repression?

The deepening economic crisis is a major driver of this escalation. The government fears that the resulting social anger will spill onto the streets, and is building punitive mechanisms against civil society, the LGBTQI+ community, students and women. Wearing down, disqualifying or imprisoning powerful opponents for years on organised crime charges has become the government’s key strategy for eliminating its rivals.

The ruling party has chosen to suppress the opposition entirely, using coercive power to guarantee its survival. This began with the slogan ‘give us the authority, and you’ll see the results’ and has sidelined democratic oversight mechanisms as power has been concentrated in a single hand.

What does this mean for the 2028 election?

The road to the 2028 election runs through constitutional change. The ruling party’s primary goal is to remove the legal limits that prevent Erdoğan’s re-election. Given the current parliamentary arithmetic, it needs the support of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) to do so. This explains the ruling party’s recent push for a peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which the DEM Party backs.

However, this is not merely a matter of parliamentary arithmetic. Kurdish society and political groups are inclined to view this state-led process as an opportunity for social peace, and are willing to give the dialogue a chance. This is, of course, not a simple issue that can be summarised in a few sentences. It is a highly sensitive process involving decades of history and multi-layered social dynamics.

Elections are not decided on election day alone. Repressive tactics begin at the candidate nomination stage, where tools such as diploma revocations and politically motivated lawsuits are used to eliminate the strongest candidates before the race begins. A court ruling invalidated the election of opposition politician Özgür Özel as chairman of the Republican People’s Party, Turkey’s main opposition party, while the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election was cancelled after İmamoğlu won it. These cases show the ruling party is prepared to cancel an election it has lost or is certain to lose, baselessly citing ‘irregularities’.

How is civil society responding and what international support does it need?

Turkish civil society is showing remarkable resilience despite the obstacles. It is working to keep communication channels open in the face of censorship, which has included the suspension of social media accounts belonging to long-standing institutions such as the Human Rights Association, the targeting of LGBTQI+ organisations and the banning of Pride Week events.

The response from the international community, and the European Union (EU) in particular, has so far gone little beyond messages of condemnation. The 2025 European Commission report on Turkey was an exception. By clearly stating that Turkish civil society has been left alone, it made us feel heard and understood.

But we expect more than messages of solidarity from our international partners. We expect tangible action. The EU accession process has proceeded like a one-sided love affair, with the burden of responsibility resting solely on the shoulders of civil society in Turkey. That must change. What civil society needs is greater solidarity with global democratic networks. We need our voice amplified on the international stage, pressure on European institutions to act and real steps against those responsible for human rights violations.

The European Parliament’s recent resolution seeking sanctions against Turkish Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek is a first step. Monetary restrictions such as asset freezes can have an impact that goes beyond symbolism. But the world has not raised its voice sufficiently against the arbitrary detention of civil society and opposition leaders.

CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees’ and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVICUS. Publication does not imply endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they represent.