Turkey’s Divide

Turkey straddles Europe and Asia with a political identity that’s likewise divided. The father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, dreamed of achieving the “highest level of civilization” as a Western-looking secular state. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instead emphasized Turkey’s historical role as an Islamic-world power since his party was first elected in 2002. That’s the backdrop for Turkey’s current political dramas, including Erdogan's accumulation of sweeping new powers after a failed coup in July 2016 by army officers who said he was undermining democracy. With a tighter grip on the media and the courts, Erdogan has stifled debate and cracked down on opponents. That's polarized the nation and rattled investors. It's also dimmed chances that Turkey — with more than 80 million people, almost all Muslims — can find a model that reconciles democratic secular government with Islam and join the European Union.

Erdogan won 53 percent of the presidential vote and another mandate to govern in an election June 24, cappping a years-long drive to assert full control over the institutions of state. The 2016 coup attempt, which left more than 250 people dead, accelerated that process; in the months that followed, about 150,000 soldiers, judges, academics and other officials were detained or suspended in a roundup of suspected sympathizers. The political influence of the military — a traditional defender of the country's secularist principles and the source of at least three takeovers since 1960 — was curbed. In 2017, Turkish voters narrowly approved constitutional amendments that formally switch Erdogan's once-ceremonial post of president into the center of power. Erdogan says Turkey needs a firm hand at the helm to revive a slowing economy and to strengthen security after a wave of terrorist attacks and intensified fighting with separatists from the country’s largest ethnic minority, the Kurds. Turkey is embroiled in the war in neighboring Syria and hosts more refugees than any other country. Erdogan has not been shy about his ambitions: He's built a presidential palace four times the size of Versailles.