Erdoğan’s War: The Quest for Power at Home and in Syria, w/ Gönül Tol

Join Turkey expert and author of Erdoğan’s War, Gönül Tol for a discussion of Erdoğan’s ideological evolution from a conservative democrat to an Islamist and a Turkish nationalist, and how this progression has come to shape his Syria policy, changing the course of the war.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is now Turkey’s longest-serving president. Since coming to power as Prime Minister in 2002 he has overseen a radical and brutal transformation of this pivotal country. Once a secular democracy with aspirations to join the European Union, Turkey has become a deeply nationalist, conservative country. Erdoğan has built a militaristic foreign policy abroad, intervening in regional flashpoints from Syria to Libya while dismantling democratic controls, clamping down on dissent and centralising power in the presidency at home.

On Tuesday September 13, academic and writer Gönül Tol comes to Intelligence Squared to shed light on how Erdoğan established an iron grip on the country. She will argue that the war in Syria has played a significant role in Turkey’s turn toward authoritarianism and how from fighting Kurdish militias in Northern Syria to leveraging refugees on the borders with Europe Erdoğan has used the war to his personal advantage.

About the author

Gönül Tol is the founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey programme, and a Frontier Europe Initiative senior fellow. A frequent media commentator, she teaches and writes extensively on Turkey–US relations, Turkish politics and foreign policy, the Kurdish issue, and Islamism in Western Europe and the Middle East.