The divisive rule of ‘ Sultan’ Erdogan

Istanbul, July 16: Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who appears to have survived a bloody attempt to remove him from power, is the most divisive leader in the history of the modern Turkish republic. Adored by supporters as a transformative figure who modernised Turkey, his foes paint him as an increasingly despotic “Sultan” who ruthlessly shuts down any criticism.

Rising from Premier to become the nation’s first directly- elected President in 2014, Mr Erdogan has dreamed of boosting his hold even further by changing the constitution to give Turkey a US- style executive presidency. But the dramatic events of Friday night have shaken his grip on power in a way few could have imagined even a day earlier.

Mr Erdogan first came to power as PM in 2003 and succeeded in clipping the wings of the military by purging elements that opposed him — or so he claimed. But ordinary Turks became suspicious of

The dramatic events of Friday night have shaken Erdogan’s grip on power in a way few could have imagined even a day earlier moves to “Islamicise” society by restricting alcohol sales, curbing the Internet and even trying to ban mixed- sex dorms at universities. His vast new $ 615 million presidential palace with 1,150 rooms has been ridiculed as an absurd, tasteless extravagance — and a symbol of his creeping authoritarianism.

And his ruling Justice and Development Party has been accused of seeking to impose conservative Islamic values on society — a possible point of friction with a military that has seen itself as the guardian of Turkey’s secular state. Mr Erdogan has faced a wave of deadly bombings as his government pursues campaigns against Kurdish rebels in the south and the ISIS in Syria.