Since the beginning of time – well, more precisely, since 2003 – Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the leader of Turkey. First, he was prime minister, then he became president with unprecedented powers. Erdogan is so perfect an example of a leader who went from bad to worse – in his case from democrat to autocrat – he is one of four featured in my recent book, Leadership from Bad to Worse: What Happens When Bad Festers*
In the book I trace the progression from when Erdogan was young and upcoming, when Turks had reason to hope he would govern as a democrat, to years later, when it became clear he would do no such thing. Instead of being a centrist democrat he is now what he has been for years: an unmitigated and unrepentant autocrat. Given Erdogan is a strongman who, typical of his type, has an insatiable lust for power, the only way his reign will end is if, and when someone(s) or something(s) ends it.
A few days ago, Erdogan invoked what The Economist referred to as “the nuclear option.” At his instruction Turkish authorities arrested the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who happens, oh by the way, to be the president’s most likely opponent in the next election. Erdogan has, then, taken his lust for power to a new level. It’s one thing to use state institutions and the security services to undermine a political rival. It’s quite another thing to have the police remove him forcibly from his home and indefinitely detain him.
Meantime, the value of the Turkish lira has dropped, the Turkish market has slid, Turkey’s central bank has jacked up interest rates, and there are protests in the streets. So, what now? Given the government has already charged Imamoglu with corruption and terrorism, it might want to retract, or to reconsider, or to provide evidence. Then again it – Erdogan – might not. Leaders who lust are bottomless pits. Which means that Erdogan will stop grabbing power and then still more power only when his hands are tied.**
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*Oxford University Press, 2024.
** Barbara Kellerman and Todd Pittinsky, Leaders Who Lust: Power, Money, Sex, Success, Legitimacy, Legacy (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
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