Turkish voters will go to the polls Nov. 1 amid a spasm of political violence and renewed conflict with Kurdish guerrillas. The vote also comes just weeks after the most deadly terrorist attack in Turkish history and as the army is struggling to keep the civil war in Syria from spilling over into Turkey.
Despite a government crackdown on independent media President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP party may struggle to win a parliamentary majority. On this week's edition of Global Journalist, we discuss Turkey's election and whether the country, once a democratic model in the Middle East, is sliding towards authoritarianism.
Our guests this week:
- Karin Deutsch Karlikar, director of free expression programs at the PEN American Center.
- Suat Kiniklioglu, a columnist for Today's Zaman, a Turkish opposition newspaper.
- Pinar Tremblay, a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse.
- Berkay Manderaci, a Turkey researcher for International Crisis Group.