Turkey’s voters head to the polls Sunday in parliamentary and presidential elections that will set the direction of the country and its 85 million people for years to come.
But these elections are not happening on level playing field.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been in office since 2002. Throughout the past two decades, we’ve seen them intensify centralized control and erode fundamental rights.
Perhaps most critically in the run up to polling day, the Erdoğan government wields formidable powers to muzzle media and detain or sideline perceived critics and political opponents. The government has given itself a vast arsenal of digital censorship tools, which it repeatedly uses to silence dissenting views online.
There have been thousands of prosecutions of journalists, political opponents, and others for criticizing the president and the government online, or even just sharing or liking critical articles on social media. The government also frequently blocks websites critical of the ruling party or individual ministers.
The Turkish government has a well-established track record of temporarily throttling access to social media networks at times of political unrest or when it anticipates criticism. It did so in the aftermath of the devastating February 2023 earthquakes, for example.
Online smoke and mirrors are also common in Turkey. Networks of fake and compromised accounts can significantly influence online discussions and are often orchestrated to expand the reach of political messages. Many of these coordinated networks are dedicated to advancing pro-AKP views. The government then points to such manufactured messaging as “proof” of grassroots support for its policies. But it’s not grassroots; it’s “astroturfing.”
With the ruling party’s overwhelming control of the digital space in Turkey, how can citizens get the unbiased news and information they need to cast their votes?
And when election results are announced, what’s to prevent the ruling party from using its digital dominance to shape the outcome of the election?
Ominously, government officials have already begun challenging the integrity of the elections, labelling any future AKP electoral loss a “political coup.”