Where can ex-Erdoganists go?
Dismissed from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s inner circles, the options for so-called X-Men are limited and unpleasant.
For the last couple of years, it has become almost impossible, even for avid Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters, to talk about Turkey without exclusively focusing on the almighty Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan rules without any challenge. From high school entrance exams to laser hair removal, all issues are decided exclusively at the palace. Whether one uses the label “one-man rule” as praise or criticism, there are no checks left on Erdogan, whose words promptly become the law of the land.
For a long time, Erdogan critics were hopeful that senior AKP members may be able to check the president, but as Erdogan’s powers expanded, the number of influential founding members of the AKP still active in policy decreased. One way or another they were all removed, and none proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with. There is only one exception — Abdullatif Sener, a founding member of the AKP and deputy prime minister for five years, who left the party in 2007 on his own will.
