Right-wing populism in Turkey and the 2023 elections

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines right-wing populism in the May 2023 elections of Turkey, mainly focussing on the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi-AKP). Using the ideational approach of populism, I first briefly examine the AKP’s predecessors, the Democratic Party (Demokrat Parti-DP) and the National Outlook (Milli Görüş) movement, which exploited the divide between secular elites and devout Muslims, based on a cultural conflict between two contrasting visions of a good society rooted in secularism and Islam. The AKP carries three characteristics of populism: people-centrism, anti-elitism, and a Manichean outlook, widely applied in the party’s discourse during recent elections. This study illustrates the fact that populism in Turkey damages the democratic game, where opponents are seen as legitimate rivals, as evidenced in the country’s democracy scores. Also, right-wing populism during the 2023 elections depicted the opposition as illegitimate enemies, both non-native and non-national, illustrating the moralistic imagination of politics.