Remember the coup?
Those not too familiar with the latest in Turkey ought to be forgiven for mistaking the Erdogan setup for an authoritative military-like regime; something the poor country has seen more than its fair share of. Sure, the administration is well within its rights to ‘cleanse’ society of coup plotters, etc, but few outside the country contest the charge that Mr Erdogan is using the failed coup to do a little bit of some personal cleansing; removing anyone or anything that has, or has had, anything at all to do with his old friend and new nemesis Fatehullah Gullen.
Ironically, since the coup attempt owed in no small part to Erdogan’s own personal bent towards authoritarianism, and the president that has come out of the coup is clearly more gung ho, odds are that the discontent has not completely disappeared despite the many tens of thousands of arrests and forced detentions. Not many from within the country will voice any problem, for obvious reasons. But the AKP is in serious danger of making the government, and hence the country, even more fragile than before that failed takeover attempt.
Now, just as Erdogan’s personal stake in the Syrian war brought ISIS and al Qaeda violence to Turkey, there are chances that his own brand of politics will only increase widespread opposition to the AKP. That is not to say that he is not still the most popular leader of his country. And the reforms he brought about in the decade that preceded his hubris (in its latest form) are responsible for reclaiming some of Turkey’s lost glory. But his path from here on is clearly more Erdogan than Turkey; it’s about his personal interests and desires than the people’s or the state’s. After raising his country’s position, he would not want to be remembered as the person that unraveled it.
