Turkish Autocrat’s ‘Downfall Far from Imminent’: Dimitar Bechev

"A sweeping attempt to capture the last 20 years of Turkey, Bechev skilfully traces the radical transformation of Turkey's domestic and foreign policies under Erdogan. An outstanding book from one of the best," wrote Gonul Tol, Director of Turkey Programme at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

Bechev told BIRN in an interview that he decided to write the book after witnessing and following the rise of Erdogan's autocratic rule and erosion of democracy.

"Over many years, I have been engaging with scholars from Turkey and thinking about Turkish foreign policy. At my past job at the European Council of Foreign Relations, ECFR, I covered Turkey at a crucial period," he recalls.

Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, "had won its third term in office in 2011, and before that there was the constitutional referendum. There was also the time of the Arab Spring and Turkey's response was a crucial part of the story," Bechev says.

Years of research and writing on Turkey, visits there and talking to people from the country, all fed into the project.

"That very much informed my decision to put down my thoughts in a book and think about what happened over this two-decade period, going back to 1990s and late-1980s," he explains.

'Golden years' of prosperity Dimitar Bechev and his new book's cover. Photo Illustration: BIRN

Bechev's 250-page book comprises 10 chapters besides an introduction and epilogue. In it, he focuses on the breaking points in local and international politics that shaped Turkey over the last 20 years.

Bechev describes Erdogan's first years in power as his "Golden years".

"That is how it felt, and how people reacted to Turkey at the beginning of the AKP's time...