About ten years ago, Recep Erdogan took over as Prime Minister of Turkey and initiated programs that led to a soaring national growth in productivity. He effectively ended the power of Turkey’s armed forces to intervene and end civilian government when displeased by some action of an elected government. There is no doubt that Erdogan made Turkey a nation that no longer faced the prospect of generals deciding how government would function. He also ended policies that curtailed the power of Muslim religious people, policies such as denying the right of females to wear a chador while in a college classroom. There is no doubt that his policies made Turkey a safer place. HOWEVER, along with these actions Erdogan revealed an ever increasing authoritarian attitude which resulted in the arrest of more journalists than has occurred in any nation in the world.
Erdogan is now President of Turkey and he continues to push his pro-Muslim ideas in a country in which secular Muslims are not interested in having their children deal with religion while in a public school. His latest idea is to push for teaching the Ottoman language! He has also become fearful of a Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen who lives in the United States charging this man with fomenting revolution in Turkey. Actually, his followers believe in honest government, an idea which is not in accord with the Erdogan style of governance. Dozens of police officers have been arrested for seeking to uncover corruption in the government, and you can guess who are the corrupt officials!
