The 'Good Dictator'

That's the title of Matthew Kaminski's Wall Street Journal article about Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and it is almost certainly meant sarcastically. There are some quotes in the article that don't bode well for the country's future. For example, Kaminski quotes a former MP about Erdogan:

Although he tries to have a democratic and Western style, his thinking is much closer to eastern countries, Arabic countries.

That doesn't sound good. Then there is this quote from Erdogan himself, in which he views democracy as a tool, not as a goal:

Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.

I understand that comment to mean "when you've achieved the power you want, it is time to put democracy aside." Sadly, it appears that Ataturk's noble experiment - to build an Islamic nation whose government is secular - is failing.