You can’t keep a good autocrat down. After his humiliation in the Istanbul mayoral election last month, Recep Tayyip Erdogan seemed chastened. Speaking to legislators of his AK Party, Turkey’s president said, “We don’t have the luxury of turning a deaf ear and ignoring the messages given by the people.”
He since seems to have changed his mind. Notwithstanding an election result that most analysts agree was a vote of no confidence in his management of Turkey’s economy, which is in acute crisis, the president has decided that Turks want more of the same. [...]
Babacan’s defection is potentially the most damaging: he was minister of economic affairs during 2002-07, when he steered the country out of an economic crisis. He is credited with the huge growth that followed. He has been muted in his criticism of Erdogan’s more recent economic policies, but will now feel free to open up. Like Davutoglu, he is thought to be especially critical of Erdogan’s decision to appoint his son-in-law, Berat Albayrak, as treasury and finance minister, a year ago.
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