The success of the opposition in the local elections last March has helped to dispel some of the pessimism about Turkey’s future. Nevertheless, the structural changes carried out by the Erdoğan regime during his 22 years in power persist. Erdoğan’s AKP party and its ultranationalist coalition partner, MHP, have hollowed out all mechanisms of the state, in particular the legal system. All positions in the judiciary have been filled jointly by these two parties. The pacification of the Constitutional Court, arbitrary trials and disproportionate judgements against opposition politicians and activists, harassment of exiled intellectuals have become a familiar reality in Turkey. Every year on 19/January, the day of his assassination in 2007, we commemorate the political struggle of journalist Hrant Dink, who dedicated his entire life to a lasting rapprochement between the Armenian and Turkish peoples. This year, in the context of the early release of his murderer in November 2023 after 16 years behind bars, we look at the legal complications surrounding freedom of thought and expression in Turkey today.
