President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser Mehmet Uçum, who also serves as deputy chair of the Presidency’s Legal Policies Board, clarified a debate over the date of the next elections. Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Uçum said the elections will most likely be held on April 16, 2028, the same date as a referendum held in 2017 on the switch to an executive presidential system. He also underlined that this would be the last election Erdoğan would be eligible to run in.
Uçum said the elections may be held on that date if Parliament approves the renewal of elections, something that would require the support of 360 lawmakers. He said the possibility of an election in the last quarter of 2027 was “low” amid calls from the opposition for an early election.
Under Turkish law, an election would normally be held in May 2028.
But the Constitution allows Parliament to trigger an early election if such a move has the support of 360 of the Turkish Parliament’s 600 lawmakers, which would open the way for Erdoğan to seek another term.
Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), have 326 seats in total. Earlier this week, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli reaffirmed his party’s unwavering support for Erdoğan’s candidacy in the next election.
The government has repeatedly insisted that elections will be held on schedule. Erdoğan, who was elected prime minister in 2003, was elected president in 2014 after serving three terms as premier. Following Türkiye’s switch to an executive presidential system, he was re-elected in 2018 and again in 2023.
Uçum also spoke about the terror-free Türkiye initiative, which advanced with the introduction of a new law last month. The law provides for the deferral of prison terms for members of the terrorist group PKK, which announced its dissolution in 2025.
The initiative still awaits confirmation of the PKK’s disarmament, something coordinated by the group’s jailed ringleader, Abdullah Öcalan. Öcalan’s status in the initiative, first proposed by Bahçeli, is widely debated, with critics of the process claiming Öcalan would be granted rights he did not deserve, such as being allocated “a villa” on the prison island where he is held.
Uçum said Öcalan’s status may be reconsidered, although he would remain in prison, more than two decades after he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Uçum said Öcalan was part of “a dialogue” to carry out the initiative.
“The goal is clear: dissolution of the terrorist group. Whoever founded it, he’d dissolve it. This is possible through dialogue, and Öcalan should be tasked with it. He should be accommodated in such a way as to facilitate dialogue; this is a requirement,” Uçum said.
