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A lot happens every day. Alliances shift, leaders change, and conflicts erupt. With In Brief, we’ll help you make sense of it all. Each week, experts will dig deep on a single issue happening in the world to help you better understand it.***On Sunday, May 14, voters in Turkey will head to the polls to vote in an election that has been called “the most important of 2023.” In the wake of earthquakes in February and amidst a historic economic crisis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, from the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), is facing a formidable challenge to his 21-year rule from opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his coalition. We asked three experts about the election and how they think it might affect Turkey’s defense posture.Read more below. Onur İşçi  Associate Professor, Department of International Relations Bilkent UniversityFour days before Turkish elections planned for May 14, polling shows a neck-and-neck race. If Erdoğan is re-elected, there will be a certain continuity. Further democratic backsliding and rising authoritarianism would exacerbate Turkey’s already strained relations with both the United States and the European Union. If the Turkish opposition leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, wins, Ankara’s defense posture will shift. Turkey’s relations with NATO allies would certainly recuperate, but the opposition will have to manage Turkey’s conflicting commitments with Russia from Nagorno-Karabakh to Idlib. If the West expects too much from the opposition, that pressure could well backfire. Merve Tahiroglu Turkey Program Director Project on Middle East DemocracyTurkey’s May 14 elections will be extremely competitive: The race is exceptionally tight and the opposition has a real chance of unseating Erdoğan. This picture drastically increases the odds that Erdoğan will try to rig the elections, subvert the results, or refuse to transfer power — all of which would prompt mass nationwide protests