In a span of nearly two decades, Turkey under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seen it all. How Turkey’s hopes for democratic reform and membership in the European Union were cast away from dawn to twilight is a remarkable episode with consequences far beyond its borders and still open-ended, including potential for deepening tragedy. How Erdoğan’s media capture evolved into outright power grab and the now escalating warfare on Syrian soil is the subject of this talk by the veteran Istanbul journalist now in exile in France.

Yavuz Baydar, senior journalist, editor-in-chief of the independent Ahval News Online, and the author of the book Die Hoffnung Stirbt am Bosporus – Wie die Türkei Freiheit and Demokratie Verspielt (Hope Dies at the Bosphorus: How Turkey Laid Waste to Freedom and Democracy) brings up to date the chain of developments which amount to a pioneering example of the rise of authoritarian populism across the globe.