Turkey: A State of Upheaval

Room for Discussion is pleased to announce its upcoming interview with Bayram Baci and Sinan Çankaya, on Friday November 16th from 12.00-13.00.

Before and especially after the coup in July 2016, Turkey has been more and more portrayed as an ‘illiberal democracy’ by international bodies such as EU and NATO. Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been trying to undermine liberal democratic state values of the Republic of Turkey, leading to a rather conservative authoritarian state system endorsing of Islamic values while undermining state secularity.

These developments threaten the still ongoing EU accession negotiations with Turkey and also complicate the relationship between the Netherlands and the Turkish community/ Turkey.

During the one hour interview we will dive deeper into these issues of the EU/Dutch – Turkish relationship. Further we will discuss Turkey’s geopolitical involvement in Syria and lay out and question its relationship with the US – or in a broader sense with the West – and with Russia.

As always; everyone is welcome to join the debate and you will have a great opportunity to ask questions directly to to our guests during the interview!