Erdoğan: The Making of an Autocrat (Edinburgh Studies on Modern Turkey)

President Erdoğan’s resilience as Turkey’s leader makes for an extraordinary political study of longevity, charisma and strategic decision-making. Uncovering the person behind the persona, M. Hakan Yavuz draws on 250 first-hand interviews to untangle the web of literary, religious and biographical influences that shaped Erdogan’s personality, ideology and world view. With chapters covering the Gezi park protests, the clash between the AKP and Gülen movement, the Kurdish question and the country’s projected image as a major international power, Yavuz explores how Erdoğan has created a ‘New Turkey’ – a hybrid political entity, neither East nor West, democratic nor dictatorial, Islamic nor secular.