[update below]
i.e. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as he apparently sees himself, according to this disquieting—indeed alarming—article in Spiegel Online International, on “America’s dark view of Turkish premier Erdogan.” The lede:
The US is concerned about its NATO ally Turkey. Embassy dispatches portray Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a power-hungry Islamist surrounded by corrupt and incompetent ministers. Washington no longer believes that the country will ever join the European Union.
If the article is reasonably accurate—and I have no a priori reason to believe that it’s not, particularly given what we know about RTE—then the near future for Turkey is somber indeed. Where is the Turkish army and its post-modern coups when we need them?…
UPDATE: Spiegel Online has a follow up article in this vein, “‘Retaliation Campaign’: Erdogan Punishes Protesters in Turkey.” (July 23)
I’d rather “when is the next election?”
Yes, of course. My final comment was strictly second degré. But the AKP will most certainly win the next election, in view of its rock solid base, the pathetic state of the opposition, and the perverse effects of the 10% threshold, and there is a real problem with checks and balances – i.e. the absence of them – in the Turkish political system. With the army out of the picture politically, there is little to prevent Erdoğan ruling like a dictator (which he has manifestly decided to do).