Mehmet is a PhD Candidate at Central European University in Vienna and a visiting doctoral researcher at SCRIPTS-BGTS in Berlin. Mehmet works on the role of ideology in authoritarian regimes in his dissertation, where he is trying to understand whether authoritarian regimes' use of ideological claims as a communication tool makes them more stable and popular. At SCRIPTS-BGTS, he will work on finalizing two of his dissertation papers. The first paper explores whether autocracies that use ideological claims more are more likely to survive, utilizing an expert survey and using panel data methods. The second paper focuses on the evolution of ideological claims in the authoritarian regime of Turkey, using text-as-data approaches and regression discontinuity designs. His broader research interests include authoritarian regimes, autocratization, quantitative methods in political science, and causal inference in observational studies.

Title of Research Project: The Role of Ideological Legitimation on the Stability of Authoritarian Regimes: A Quantitative Examination