It's time for another installment of a Eulogy for Turkish Democracy. Here's the latest.
The Economist reports Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, and his AK party, have fired Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and will replace him, possibly with Erdogan's son-in-law. This move constitutes another loop of the downward spiral that is Turkey's path from elected government to autocracy.
Before entering government, Erdogan famously said of democracy, "Democracy is like a train. We shall get out when we arrive at the station we want" (Spiegel, 2010). The evidence is clear, Erdogan has reached the station he wants and is, one deniable step at a time, getting out.
It's a sad thing happening to a regionally important country. What's worse, it is happening because the Turks will it. Erdogan is popular, he wins elections. Ataturk's revolution has burned out, after decades it has failed.
