"Krone" commentary

The eternal Erdogan

2003 was the year of the great victory for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Neither military coups, bans on his parties, prison sentences nor Turkey's secular Kemalist establishment were able to prevent the rise of the devout Sunni Muslim. He had reached the top. And with all kinds of reforms, he was to ensure that he stayed there for twenty years.

His announcement that the local elections on March 31 would be his last round of voting and that he would therefore not be standing in the 2028 presidential elections is hard to believe. Firstly, this is the fifth time that Erdogan has announced his political withdrawal. The first was back in 2009.

Secondly, there was a small "loophole" hidden in the statement. He said that it would be his last election because it was provided for by law. However, Erdogan recently proved that it is no problem for him to bend the law to his liking in the 2023 presidential election, in which he would not have been allowed to run again according to the constitution, as he had already served two terms as president.

In 2003, Erdogan was still seen as a beacon of hope for an ideologically rigid republic. Twenty years later, he is an Islamic-nationalist autocrat. These days, people like to remember one of his most famous sayings: "Democracy is a streetcar. When we reach our destination, we get off."