EMET presents a phone seminar

“Turkish Elections: A Democracy or Autocracy?”

Featuring:

David Goldman

Friday, November 13, 2015*
12:00 PM-1:00 PM (Eastern Time)

On November 1, 2015, the Republic of Turkey held elections for its Parliament.  To the surprise of many pollsters, President Recep Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), an Islamist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Western party, won back the majority it had lost in June.  However, many experts are suspicious of these results, and believe they may be tainted by corruption.  Unfortunately, the AKP’s victory is likely to make it easier for Erdogan to establish a strong Presidential system in that country, which may eventually verge into a dictatorship, and also give him more power to interfere in next door Syria, where he has been a determined foe of President Assad, but also of the pro-US Kurdish groups, and a (sometimes) ally of ISIS and other Islamist groups.

To discuss this issue in our seminar, we are pleased to welcome David Goldman. David is a columnist who joined PJ Media in August 2011 after nearly 10 years of essaying as the Pseudonymous “Spengler” at Asia Times Online and two years of editing and writing at  First Things. He’s also the author of How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too).  He is also a fellow at the Middle East Forum.  He has written extensively about Turkey, Erdogan, and its coming economic crunch.

David’s career has been split between the financial and cultural worlds, and gives him a unique perspective. He has written extensively on cultural and religious matters, and held senior jobs on Wall Street, including as the global head of bond research at Bank of America. This bifurcated career focus provides David with a unique opportunity to examine both the practical and speculative aspects of life.