In Turkey, Erdogan Is Still Calling All the Shots

Source:Foreign Policy Date:29Apr2019

This is an article, with which I completely disagree.  In my view it perpetues the defeatist view of an all powerful Erdogan holding his and the nation’s destiny in his hands, and his hands only.  The facts are different.  Without MHP, AKP will not be able to  cling to poweri much less have Erdogan re-elected.  MHP gets its pound in flesh by increasingly penetrating the  police, security establishment and the judiciary.  The re-branding of AKP by MHP is real and beyond Erdogan’s control.  Neverthless I try to post articles that represent diverse views about Turkey.  So, here it is:

Erdogan is not being pulled anywhere. He is in firm control of his relationship with the MHP and his government’s actions.Erdogan is not being pulled anywhere. He is in firm control of his relationship with the MHP and his government’s actions. Nor is Erdogan inhabiting an ideological space or policy position that is alien to him. He is still where everyone always wants to be: at the top.
The bond between the AKP and the MHP is officially called the “People’s Alliance,” but this is a misnomer. Alliances are usually formed between comparable entities—such as sovereign states, or political parties subject to the same rules. This is not the case in Turkey’s governing coalition. Erdogan’s AKP is not a mere participant in a game of democratic politics but the vehicle for the redesign of Turkey’s political regime. By definition, it cannot have partners, just subservient political organizations. The MHP is the largest such organization, but it’s not the only one. The Great Unity Party, an MHP splinter group created in 1993, was part of the alliance in the 2018 elections. Erdogan has also flirted with the idea of arranging for a small Islamist outfit to peel away votes from the Islamist opposition Felicity Party.