The Spectator (U.K.) carries a column describing Turkey's continuing drift away from democracy, becoming in the process what the pseudonymous author calls "a paranoid one-party state." While the murderous Sunnis next door in Syria try to resurrect the long-dead caliphate, Erdogan's Islamist AK party in Turkey tries to resurrect the Ottoman Empire.
It is a common theme among autocrats, Mussolini tried (with little success) to resurrect the Roman Empire. Putin is making similar moves with regard to the now-independent parts of the former Soviet Union - which was Russia's empire, even if never called such.
Sadly, Turkey needs a new westernizing Ataturk, not a new Sublime Porte.
