Enter Erdo?an and Putin

The political model that President Tayyip Erdo?an has been establishing for Turkey in the past two-three years ? and aims to perfect with a new constitution based on a ?presidential system? ? has been famously controversial. Erdo?an and his supporters call this model ?democracy? at its best, where the elected leader of the nation knows no limits. Turkish opposition, in return, calls the system a ?dictatorship,? a term that often looks contradictory to free and fair elections. For my part, I have latterly preferred the term ?illiberal democracy,? where free and fair elections co-exist with very illiberal (authoritarian, paranoid, revengeful) politics.

Many observers have also pointed out the similarities between Erdo?an?s model and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin. These similarities certainly exist, and they are worth looking into in order to see what the real problem is.

At this point, let me recommend to you a recent article by Howard Eissenstat, assistant professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University. Titled ?Stunted Democracy: Erdo?an, the AKP, and Turkey?s Slide into Authoritarianism,? the article is a good summary of what has gone wrong during the ruling Justice and Development Party?s (AKP) experience, which in fact had begun with a very promising era of reform and liberalization. To understand the nature of the problem, Eissenstat notes that ?comparisons to Vladimir Putin are useful.?

Yet, as Eissenstat also warns, these comparisons should begin by underlining the differences. First of all, ?elections are no doubt fairer in Turkey than they are in Russia.? In other words, Erdo?an?s electoral legitimacy cannot be questioned, whereas Putin?s can be, as elections in Russia are notoriously manipulated. Secondly, ...