The San Diego World Affairs Council Presents
“The Implications of Turkey's Political Crisis”
featuring:
Professor Ahmet T. Kuru
Thursday, April 10th, 2025
9:30am - 10:45am
Zoom link to be sent to all registrants via the
registration confirmation email.
About the Program
While the western world has been caught up in the controversies and turbulence of Trump 2.0, the NATO country of Turkey has been shaken by a major political crisis. Sustained protests began throughout Turkey on 19 March 2025 following the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and more than 100 other opposition members and protesters by Turkish authorities. Who is Ekrem İmamoğlu and why was he arrested? What is the symbolism of the Pokémon character Pikachu in the protest? Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has served as Turkey’s Prime Minister from 2003-2014 and President from 2014 to today. What is the outlook for Turkey's domestic political situation? Will the crisis impact Erdogan's domestic and international authority and legacy?
San Diego State University political science professor and author Ahmet Kuru will detail the political crisis and its implications for Turkey in a live stream presentation. Q&A will follow his presentation.
About Professor Ahmet T. Kuru
Ahmet T. Kuru (Ph.D., University of Washington) is the director of 
Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies and Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia University. Kuru is the author of Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey (Cambridge University Press, 2009), which received the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR)'s Book Award. He is also the co-editor (with Alfred Stepan) of Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey (Columbia University Press, 2012). Kuru's articles appeared in various journals including World Politics, Comparative Politics, and Political Science Quarterly.
His recent book, “Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison (Cambridge University Press, 2019)” was co-winner of the American Political Science Association's International History and Politics Section Award, received honorable mention of SSSR's Award, and was included in Times Literary Supplement's Books of the Year for 2022. The Times Literary Supplement stated "Kuru puts forward a bold new theory, arguing that from the eleventh century onwards, the alliance of religious orthodoxy with heavily militarized states gradually stifled intellectual and economic creativity. Progressive free-thinkers and independent entrepreneurs were marginalized, leading the Arab world to undermine its own future." This book has been translated into Indonesian, Arabic, Persian, Bosnian, Dutch, French, German, Malay, Urdu, Bangla, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz.
