As a scholar of Turkey, I spent years watching President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rise—and, I’ll admit, I once believed in the promise. I had reservations about his Islamist roots, but his vows to fight corruption, reduce poverty, and expand freedoms seemed like the antidote to Turkey’s democratic fragility. For a moment, it felt like real progress.
But in hindsight, those so-called reforms were not designed to strengthen democracy—they were designed to dismantle it from within. I ignored the early warning signs. Two decades later, Erdoğan has delivered the opposite of what he pledged: Turkey now ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world, with widespread institutional capture and the erosion of basic liberties. What’s alarming is how quickly I now see that same authoritarian playbook unfolding in my adopted home, the United States, only with more speed and aggression.
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