Afterwords | The Rise and Rise of Erdoğan

The vicious battle for the soul of the Republic of Turkey

The impulsiveness and rhetoric, the bullying and bullshitting, were obvious from the beginning; if anything, they accounted for Erdoğan's anti-elite appeal. And, for Turkey's politically unpopular conservative elites, Erdoğan's energy and theatrics made him an appealing partner when they embraced him.

The conservative elites who thought that Erdoğan would be content with his share of power and pelf, get hemmed in by the demands of the office, become a decent statesman who sought compromise, ended up being purged from the very political system that they thought they controlled.

Please subscribe to receive the full article: