The Economist's Turkey Correspondent Piotr Zalewski says don't give up on Turkey's battered democracy quite yet

Turkey is headed for watershed elections on May 14 that could, depending on its outcome, deal the final blow to its wobbly democracy. The odds are fully stacked in favor of the country's autocratic president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Economist magazine last week caused a furore when it published a special report on "Erdogan's Empire"  bearing the title "Turkey's Looming Dictatorship" on its cover. As the report's author, Piotr Zalewski noted, things are really bad in Turkey with the economy in shambles and the rule of law in free fall. Yet, Turkey is not on the level of full blown dictatorships like Russia or Belarus and may yet reverse course. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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AL-Monitor Senior Correspondent Amberin Zaman interviews newsmakers, journalists, and thought leaders from the US and Middle East about the latest news and trends in the region. Amberin travels the region for AL-Monitor, specializing in news and analysis in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the Caucasus and writes the weekly Turkey Briefing newsletter. Prior to AL-Monitor, she covered Turkey, the Kurds, and conflicts in the region for The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and the Voice of America, and was The Economist's Turkey correspondent from 1999 to 2016.