Editorial: Erdogan is building castles in the sand

As time passes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finds himself in an ever more difficult position and vindicates those who believe that he will have the same fate as other authoritarian, immoderate, and arrogant leaders.

His works and days reveal the archetype of a leader who is motivated by irredentism and who ineluctably must confront the monster which he created and which now threatens to destroy him.

The construct he created is shaking and the problems he must confront are like a Hydra.

Revelations in the press implicate his son-in-law Beyrat Albayrak in a money laundering case. Leaks of classified documents of the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reveal dubious transactions between Turkey's Aktif Bank and international banking giants.

With his country a hair's breadth from a currency crisis and economic collapse and confronted with the prospect of international isolation Erdogan must now be concerned about his own future.

For the time being he seems undaunted perhaps because he does not comprehend or does not want to understand reality, as is the case with leaders who become inebriated with power and the illusion of omnipotence.

Turkish citizens are plunging into poverty even as Erdogan continues to build palaces and dreams of the glory of the Ottoman Empire.