Türkiye's next general and presidential elections are likely to land on April 16, 2028, according to Mehmet Uçum, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's chief adviser and deputy chair of the Presidency's Legal Policies Board. The date would echo the 2017 referendum that created the executive presidential system. Under the constitution, the vote would otherwise fall in May 2028.
There's a catch. Moving the vote to April requires Parliament to approve an early election with the support of at least 360 of its 600 lawmakers. Erdoğan's AK Party and its ally, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), currently hold 326 seats combined, so they'd need opposition votes. MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli has reaffirmed his party's backing for Erdoğan's candidacy, and Uçum dismissed talk of a late-2027 vote as unlikely. If the early-election route works, Erdoğan's team says it would be the last election he is eligible to contest, having served as prime minister from 2003 and president since 2014, with re-elections in 2018 and 2023.
Uçum also addressed the ongoing "terror-free Türkiye" initiative. A new law passed last month allows deferred prison sentences for PKK members after the group announced its dissolution in 2025. The process hinges on confirmed disarmament, coordinated through jailed PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan, whose own status remains under review though he is expected to stay imprisoned.
Why does any of this matter if you're planning a trip? Türkiye is one of the region's most visited countries, and election periods can bring large rallies, heightened security in city centres, and occasional transport disruption, particularly in Istanbul and Ankara. A fixed April 2028 date gives travellers and travel businesses a clearer picture than lingering speculation about an earlier vote. The domestic political stability signal also matters for the lira and for tourism investment, both of which shape prices on the ground.
In short: no reason to change plans for the next year or two, but if you were eyeing a spring 2028 trip, it may be worth timing around the vote — or leaning into it and experiencing a pivotal moment in Turkish politics firsthand.Keep reading: Daily Sabah Travel