Turkey: No Checks, Few Balances
by Steven A. Cook
April 23, 2013
“Recep Tayyip Erdogan is Turkey’s first Pharaoh!” a contact in Turkey declared to me recently over breakfast in Ankara. “Not a Sultan?,” I countered teasingly. “No, the Sultans had some checks on their power. Today Tayyip Erdogan’s power is absolute.” My friend, who would fall within the category of right-of-center nationalist, assured me that his Pharaoh comment was not meant to be an insult, but rather a statement of fact. That’s hard to believe given what the leaders of ancient (and not so ancient) Egypt stood for and the principles by which Erdogan and his associates claim to have governed Turkey for the last almost eleven years. Indeed, when Erdogan, Abdullah Gül, and the people around them broke from Turkey’s Islamist old guard and established the Adelet ve Kalkinma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) they offered Turks a vision of a democratic and prosperous Turkey.
More:From the Potomac to the Euphrates » Turkey: No Checks, Few Balances