The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey

by Soner Çağaptay

The aborted coup in Turkey has fired up interest in a country which will play a critical geopolitical role in the wars of the Middle East. The spotlight will inevitably be on Erdogan the powerful leader of the country - whose increasingly bizarre and authoritarian regime has increased tensions enormously both within and outside the country. His crackdown has been brutal and consistent thousands of journalists arrested, academics officially banned from leaving the country, university deans fired and three quarters of highest ranking army officers arrested.In some senses, this coup has given Erdogan the license to make good on his repeated promise to bring order and stability under a strongman . Here, leading Turkish expert Soner Cagaptay will look at where Erdogan comes from in Turkish history, what he believes in, how he has cemented his rule will assess the threats he faces from the liberal youth to the Gulen movement, the army plotters and the Kurdish question."

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Middle East

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2017

About the author

Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute.

Reviews

[Tulay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.

Dr. Cagaptay, thank you writing this very informative book. Learned how Erdogan lived, from his schooling to mayor of Istanbul and how he became the president of Turkey. At the beginning US supported him, do understand why. Turkey now not what Ataturk dreamed to be or fought for.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but meaty read on the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan You see how he benefited from the Islamic trends in the region and Turkey’s system where a party needs 10% to be seated in parliament.

His early education was through the Imam Hatip educational system. Ataturk banned these schools but allowed a few to remain for training Islamic clergy. For his last years Erdogan went to a secular high school and university. Imam Hatip graduates, while a small number of Turkey’s population, feature in his party and his administrations.

Author Soner Çağaptay describes Erdogen’s work as Mayor of Istanbul as energetic and credible. As Prime Minister, his government is credited with creating a middle class. While receiving a growing share of the votes in each election, he has never reached 50% reflecting how he has polarized the nation primarily by pushing back against Ataturk’s westernization and by stoking prejudices against minorities. He has built his power by shutting down presses and stacking the bureaucracy and judgeships with and awarding government contracts to (as the author implies) men who have wives who wear hijabs. He also benefits from the system of censorship, which once had him in jail for reciting a poem.

The EU never opened its arms for Turkey and Erdogen’s crackdowns on its opponents and his embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood make what was once a possibility ever more distant.

Cagaptay sees Turkey at a crisis. It has isolated itself among nations and is internally polarized. He sees one potential point of change in the growing political strength of the Kurdish minority, particularly if it works with other minorities.

The book is short but dense. There are a lot of parties and players to keep track of. I got only the outline (above). There is a lot more detail and insight that was hard to absorb.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Erdoğan has become the most powerful leader in the country, and he wants to shape it in his image.’

I finished reading this book on the 16th of April, 2017: the day that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won the Turkish constitutional referendum. The 18 proposed amendments to the Turkish constitution were brought forward by the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Approval means that the office of the Prime Minister will be abolished and the existing parliamentary system of government will be replaced with an executive presidency and a presidential system. The referendum was held under a state of emergency declared after a failed military coup attempt in July 2016. Other amendments include raising the number of seats in Parliament from 550 to 600 while the president will be given more control over appointments to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK).

So, who is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and how has he risen to be the most powerful leader in the Turkish republic since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk? What does this mean for both Turkey and the rest of the world?

In this book, Dr Cagaptay writes of the factors that shaped Erdoğan’s early life, his introduction to politics, his rise in the AKP, and how he has consolidated his power over the last 15 years. The contrast with the direction in which Ataturk wanted to lead Turkey couldn’t be greater: Ataturk’s vision was for a secular, Westernised nation, while Erdoğan seems to want a conservative, Islamic state. The crisis of modern Turkey is the culmination of a number of different issues: Turkey has become polarised. Erdoğan has played off different groups against each other to achieve his political aims while consolidating Turkey as a regional power. But can Erdoğan’s approach work in the longer term? And at what cost? Turkey is a diverse country, with a number of different ethnic, political and religious groups. In the meantime, journalists and some high-ranking military officers have been arrested, and some academics have been banned from leaving the country.

One of the reasons why I chose to read this book was to try to understand how Turkey has changed in the past 20 years. This book gave me some answers, while raising more questions and issues to consider. Not all that long ago, Turkey was considered to be a wonderful (albeit somewhat flawed) example of a middle eastern democracy. Is it possible to still consider Turkey as a democracy? Of what value are democratic institutions if a president has (almost) unfettered power?

What will happen next?

Note: My thanks to I. B. Tauris and NetGalley for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[ehk2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certainly written for a foreign readership audience in mind, it is a journalistic account of AKP years (facts followed by facts followed by facts...) -not much to be objected to, but not also very helpful to grasp underlying dynamics in a scholarly sense.

It consists of two parts: an account of Turkish history in general -AKP years in particular + policy analyses, suggestions, predictions for the near future, suited with author's position in the USA (which I'm less interested). Cagaptay seems to be giving advices, presenting options to Erdogan -in reality, he certainly knows that Erdogan neither needs nor listens to these. (-Either be a failed sultan or return to your early days & turn your face to Washington D.C.) A failed rhetorical device...

Author's attempt to establish a form of parallelism between the life trajectories of Orhan Pamuk's Mevlut and Erdogan is another failed literary device. First and foremost, Mevlut was a (fictional) man, for whom politics in its excessive forms was rather unsettlingly funny/artificial/inauthentic. Mevlut was apolitical, shunning from it. Also, he did not have a grudge specifically against country's secularist establishment (contra Cagaptay suggests). Or, he had against all equally!

The much repeated so-called Turkish Wirtschaftswunder (!) is never explained in detail -though he is not an economist- and just referenced to like-minded people or gross data as if it's an undisputed phenomenon or discussed without the winners and losers of it.

In addition, it is not always a good idea to translate proper names: Istanbul Erkek Lisesi - Boys' High School. Karakol Cemiyeti - Black Hand Society (!)

A LMAO moment: "Before government confiscated it, Sabah was known as the New York Times of Turkey due to its liberal content". Really? It has always been rubbish, as far as I remember...
By the way, Cagaptay has a very broad or vague way of using the word "liberal", so as to make it useless or meaningless...

In early pages, author implies police measures for immigration control in Istanbul where people "were detained by military police and sent back whence they come". I doubt that. I won't bother to investigate it, because I am certain that low levels of migration to cities was about socioeconomic pull&push factors at that time, not securitarian policies... I never heart that measure.
Another point I didn't hear and know, but resist to believe (Cagaptay isn't an author who has a habit to provide extensive references to his claims): PKK "with which Russia has historic ties going back to that organization's founding with Soviet support in the 1970s". PKK could not be said among the most pro-Soviet parties of the day!


Overall, there is not much to be objected to. It is good for foreigners. As for natives, we are all too-well acquainted living with the Sultan, I hope. Therefore there is not much original or to be learnt for us here.

Dackali abimim yine de eline saglik.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make Turkey Great Again! Well, I don't know that Erdogan has ever said the exact same words or not, but it is undoubtedly what he is aiming for. Ofcourse, he himself would be the omnipotent leader of this great Turkey, he won't share power with anyone. If you have any doubt, you can ask leftist-liberals, Gulenists (who helped him to undermine secularists and their base in military), Mr. Davutoglu (forme Minister of Foreign Affairs and then Prime Minister) and Kurds. Being the most powerful man did not satisfy him, he had to be the greatest in modern history of Turkey, his legacy should outcast Ataturk's. For that he needed to occupy the seat once belonged to Ataturk, Presidency. He gained that seat too, not exactly the same seat but a different one in a new palace he had built for himslelf. There was only a minor problem, presidency didn't have so much executive power in Turkey although it was highly respected. But Erdogan couldn't stay in sidelines, he was the best player so he should have played and he did! He called for a referendum and increased President's executive authority. He knew he lacked the votes so he started a new policy, fighting with PKK and PYD (Kurdish armed forces in Turkey & Syria). He had done his math right, the votes of ultra-nationalist Turks he gained was way more than Kurdish votes he lost. It's not still the end, he wants to be Sultan. But that goes beyond Turkey, it means real power and influence over neighbor countries. That's where Mr. Erdogan has been unsuccessful and future doesn't seem bright. He has gained no true allies and lost his traditional western ones.

That was his dark side, he has also a bright side in his report card. When he gained power, Turkey was in a desperate economic situation with high inflation. He managed to build an economy with phenomenal growth rate and change Turkey from a poor majority to a middle-class majority country. At first he seemed like a moderate religious leader who wanted to change Turkey's "freedom from religion" system to a system of "freedom of religion". It all seemed harmless and Turkey emerged as a role model for other muslim countries in region. As time passed Erdogan got rid of center-right politicians in AKP, gradually gained more power and turned to "The New Sultan".

The story is all in this book wich also covers the history of post WWI Turkey and addresses its most imminent problems. It seems accessible for almost anyone but I guess it won't be very fruitful for people who are observing Turkey closely. Author's western tone at times bothered me, but it was not a big issue.

[Pinar Coskun · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am not sure if there is any group in Turkey that deserves to be presented as an equal to ISIS with regards to the threat they pose and the destruction they have caused upon the world; this is a marvelous piece of introductory reading.

[Emre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey by Soner Çağaptay is a very good primer on modern Turkish political history. Its story begins roughly at the time of current Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan’s birth in 1954, around when Turkey began its tumultuous emergence as a multiparty democracy after decades of revolutionary one-party rule by the Ottoman generation of Kemalists. It traces Turkey’s political history from its initial democratic struggles against the Kemalist deep state, through the cold war violence between left and right, the neoliberal periods of austerity and economic crisis, and finally to the dramatic appearance of Erdogan’s conservative coalition.

Parallel to these developments in high politics, the book also delves into the mysterious world of Islamic associations and educational institutions, through which President Erdogan gained his religious education and found a role to play as a political leader and organizer, and eventually the rising-star mayor of an emerging metropolis, Istanbul. The book then examines his long national leadership, running through its successes and obstacles. The end of the book is dedicated to Cagaptay’s assessment of the current state of the republic, including his recommendations for both Erdogan and his opposition, and his positive and negative visions of Turkey’s future prospects.

The book does have certain gaps, which I think limit its narrative and leave unanswered questions. It tries to discuss the background of modern Islamism in Turkey, specifically during its multiparty period. This narrative, however, seems to center only on certain key people, such as former Islamist leader Necmettin Erbakan, and of course Erdogan himself. I still think the author could have dedicated more time to this section, as this microcosm in Turkish society remains something of a mystery, even to Turks who live within Turkey. Obviously there is much more to this community than has been discussed in the mainstream discourse, especially when considering the bewilderment of experts during the shocking aftermath of the coup in July 2016. The Gulenists in particular are a bit neglected in the book, and only abruptly mentioned in the end of the book for several pages, despite playing an instrumental role (which, to be fair, the author repeatedly acknowledges) in Turkish politics behind the scenes. Perhaps this fascinating topic cannot be adequately addressed in an introductory book, and I should reiterate that Cagaptay does discuss most of these topics sufficiently as an introduction.

Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to anyone who is unfamiliar with Turkish politics, because it incisively covers all of the essentials in Turkish political history from events, people, factions, and evolving politics and socioeconomics. Its assessment of Turkey in recent years is subjective. The author criticizes all sides for their shortcomings, be they liberals, Kurds, nationalists, secularists, Islamists, or the West. It is up to you to you to agree or disagree with Cagaptay’s assessment, but he does a good job of providing a tidy sequence of events from Menderes to ISIS.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the most important Turkish politician since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Over the past two decades Erdoğan has outlasted and outwitted all possible challengers to leave his mark on contemporary Turkey, for better or worse. One could compare him to Richard Nixon, LBJ and Robert Moses, Americans who have been the subjects of multiple well researched and written biographies, and yet he has had a greater impact on the course of his nation than either Nixon or Johnson did, and his span of power is much greater than anything enjoyed by Robert Moses.

Moreover, Erdoğan remains alive, in power, with great influence every day on issues of great interest to many intelligent English speakers, such as political Islam, the Syrian civil war, the battle against ISIS, and the European refugee crisis. Surely there should be a strong market for a well researched, well written biography of a man with such an interesting political pedigree, who has succeeded against the odds and is more powerful today than at any time in his career to date.

And yet, while Ataturk has captured the imagination of the West and serious new biographies of Ataturk continue to be published in English even today, to date there has not been one decent, well written biography of Erdoğan in English. This is a serious tragedy, given that in theory the source material for a biography of Erdoğan, with most potential interview subjects still living and a large volume of his public speeches in TV and newspaper archives across Turkey, is much more voluminous than it is for Ataturk.

Into this void, alas, Çağaptay's new book does not step. Although Çağaptay has an academic pedigree, his CV and the writing of the book suggests that he is less of a scholarly historian than a policy analyst in the Washington DC think tank circuit. His biography of Erdoğan reflects this policy orientation, with no evidence of original research from primary sources on Erdoğan's early life, his family, his rise to prominence or the key events of his career. Instead the book relies heavily on a list of secondary sources that will be familiar to anyone who has sought in vain previously to find something serious on Erdoğan's early life (e.g. Ruşen Çakır) and then seeks to put this limited biography into a political context for a Western audience before spending the last quarter of the book examining the key domestic and foreign policy questions facing Erdoğan. As such, while this book may be useful for bringing someone unfamiliar with Erdoğan or modern Turkish politics up to speed on the broad brush strokes, it will date quickly and will not meaningfully add to or challenge the understanding of anyone with long experience watching Turkey.

For those of us who grew up in Erdoğan's shadow (he became mayor of Istanbul in March 1994, three months before I first arrived in Turkey as a 9 year old with my parents) we still await the Robert Caro of Turkish political biography to come and give us the full story...

[Rares Cristea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great overview of the modern Turkish society. I really apprecciated that the author spent time in the beginning of the book setting up the national context, instead of telling long stories on how little Recep found out he is a Islamic conservative while looking through his home window.

It is a good summary, doesn't delve into unnecessary details, but provides an neoinstitutionalist view on today's Turkey.

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent primer, informed, sober, and very readable — for those with no memory or background on the rise of Erdogan. But the book was written in 2016, soon after the July coup — and things have deteriorated significantly since. Cagaptay’s new book (2019) is thus up next.

[Erkan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Same facts, different analysis

Cagaptay's previous work, Rise of Turkey, has more or less the same set of observations, with a much more positive tone, only a small number of reservations. Looks like Cagaptay, like many other western analysts, left Erdogan, without an open self-crtism or apology. Deserves a comparative read with the earlier work of Cagaptay.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written a couple of years ago, so it's not up-to-date on all the developments with Erdogan's Turkey, but it's a good place to start to get some information on what's going on in that country. We hear a lot about Turkey on the news (if you pay attention to international news, that is), but I have the feeling that most Americans know very little about it. This book wasn't always the most fun to read. The way it was sort of broken up into chapters within chapters could get annoying at times, and there were so many abbreviations for political parties that I spend probably 10 mins over the course of reading simply looking back at the list of parties to see which was which. That aside, the book was filled with great information that helped me get an idea of who Erdogan is and what his motives are.

[Sean B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great history of modern Turkey. It isn't very in-depth, but it is a good introduction to Turkey, and explains how Erdogan rose to the top (and continues to rule). Definitely recommend if you're looking for a quick, accessible way to learn about the current Turkish government and how it came about.

[Callum Bryce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough insight into the story of Erdogan and his prominent rise to power, detailing the appeasement and vehement suppression of Turkiye's factions.

[Itay · Rating 5 out of 5]

הספר הוא הקדמה היסטורית ופוליטית טובה לטורקיה בת ימינו. הוא מתעד את עלייתו של ארדואן על רקע המהפכה הכאמליסטית וההתנהגות של השלטון הטורקי מימי אתאטורק לכל סממני דת במדינה (לרמת הרדיפה הדתית) ועד לימינו אנו. הוא מתאר את התנועה הגולניסטית האליטיסטית, שהייתה בת בריתו של ארדואן, ואת המאבק הכורדי באזור המזרח התיכון באופן כללי ובטורקיה בפרט. השורה התחתונה די מדכאת, יש לנו איסלאמיסט קיצוני חובב שררה וכוח שהעם הטורקי מינה לסולטן ולא נראה שעתיד להסתלק מהזירה הפוליטית בקרוב. הפלגים הפוליטיים היריבים שלו אינם טובים בהרבה ממנו. קשה לראות תקווה לשובה של הדמוקרטית ברפובליקה הטורקית - עדיף אולי להפסיק לקוות.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a biography of Erdogan, and focuses on the ways in which he resembles Ataturk, although his goals are oppositional. I thought the author provides more analysis of Erdogan's history and current policies than most other books about modern Turkey.

[Ilana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for quite a long time for a book which explains extensively the victorious power take of Erdogan in the last decade. This book is exactly what I needed to understand the roots of his movement as well as his political personality. From his versatility in using Gulen for his own purposes and ending up considering him his enemy no.1, until his more subtle dramatic shaking of the Kemalism, Erdogan is an interesting personality, but that bad kind of interesting. With a clear aim for power - the more the better - and a machiavellianism and hunger for recognition typical for people with very modest origins, he is hard to stop and even harder to avoid as an important political pawn on the world map.
But will his will for power lead the country in a direction where salvation from the religious extreme is still possible? Or he is rather one step before being the victim of the system he created?
The book goes into deep analysis of the social and political roots of the current situation in Turkey, with interesting insights and powerful features of the main episodes of Erdogan's raise to power. Recommended to anyone curious to find out more about the latest political evolutions in the Middle East and the changes underwent by Turkey in the last decades.
Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Rajat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The near collapse of the Lira prompted me to study the historical antecedents leading upto the rout of the currency. 'The New Sultan' identified here is the one who is responsible for the economic crisis, as well as for the international ignominy and dissidence that gnaws at Turkey today. Soner Cagaptay introduces the rise of the 'Sultan' by mentioning how the founding father of modern Turkey, Ataturk, envisaged it as a secular country built on modern social values and technology, even if that meant embracing western ideas. What we have nearly 90 years later is a near illiberal shadow autocracy that seems to have adopted anti-westernism and pro-islamism as its credo. A country that started out as the bridge between Europe and Asia now seems to be burning the edges on both sides. However, as the author mentions, it would be obliquely pessimistic to suggest that syncretism borne out of historical traditions going back hundreds of years are going to be washed away in less than two decades, that too at the behest of someone who enjoys support of just half the voting base.
Altogether an interesting read to understand politics of the country today, and how Erdogan's unassailable assault on Turkey's values has come to find an audience.

[Levent Mollamustafaoglu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good summary of the rise of Erdogan and the development of the authoritarian regime by a Turkish scholar. It does not really have any new information, but a calm analysis of the last 50 years, ending up in the current situation. The timeline stops right after the failed coup of 2016 but it has enough material to explain the events in this saga.

[Jumatil Fajar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini bagus untuk melihat Erdogan dari kaca mata orang luar. Bisa menjadi masukan untuk perbaikan ke depan.

[Emil Erstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kven er Erdogan? Kva er hans politiske prosjekt? Kvar kjem han frå? Og kva skjer med Tyrkia no? Denne boka svarar godt på fleire av desse spørsmåla. Tilrådast for å forstå Tyrkia betre.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book covering key issues facing US-Turkish relations. I teach a graduate level course on the Ottoman Empire and modern day Turkey, and this book was required reading in the Fall 2017.

[Frank Van De P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read, but still comprehensive and deep, about Turkish landscape in which Erdogan rose to power. Definitely recommended for people who want to know more about what is happening.

[Shayaalh · Rating 4 out of 5]

immensely enjoyed reading this, highly recommended for more insight on Erdogan's life and Turkish politics.

[Linda Slonecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning Erdogan's Turkey

A pivotal country in the middle of all the middle east chaos. Erdogan wants to be Islamist kingpin in the region and lose the pro western label.

[Robert Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my least favorite of the three Erdogan biographies I read in the run-up to 2023's Turkish election. But it's also probably the most useful for folks looking for a quick introduction to the Turkish President and the recent Turkish history that has shaped him. At just 205 pages it's a blisteringly fast read, and it packs an absolute ton of information in.

Çağaptay includes concise chapters on Erdogan's biography, and straightforward, well-paced descriptions of the decades of complicated Turkish politics that formed Erdogan and formed the opportunities he has taken advantage of. I know this history pretty well at this point, but even I found Çağaptay's capsule histories engaging and clarifying on a few points I had wondered about.

So what's not to like? Why the three-star rating? Well Çağaptay represents the Washington, DC establishment view, and it's a view I don't much like. He's not helped by the fact that the book is now six years out of date, but it's pretty stunning how badly he misread the Turkish-Syrian situation in 2017 when the book was published. Up until 2011 or so his narrative is quite illuminating, but then the story starts intersecting with the agendas of Washington, DC weapons salesmen, and the book goes off the rails. Much of the domestic Turkish stuff from the early 2010s is decent, but then as Turkish politics becomes more and more about Syrian war blowback as the decade wears on, the book gets more and more useless.

The book is "graced" with friendly blurbs from a hawkish Washington Post writer, and Jim Jeffrey, the US diplomat most famous for bragging about lying to a US president to keep the US Syrian intervention going. Çağaptay's day job is with the Washington Institute, a think tank that is often described as being at the heart of the US Israel lobby. So despite his deep knowledge of Turkey and its history he's compelled to end the book with a series of ridiculous suggestions and analyses. Erdogan should make his peace with the PKK, to better ward off the presumed immortal threats of Islamic State Jihadism and the Assad regime. Turkey, its economy, and Erdogan's government are way too weak to pursue any other path! Çağaptay states that Erdogan should just accept a PKK affiliated breakaway state in Northern Syria. Even in 2017 these suggestions were risible, and were politically impossible for any Turkish government figure, let alone Erdogan.

In 2023 these suggestions read as fantasies from a dead era. Turkey's economy did crash, but that didn't stop Erdogan from invading Syria and making quick work of all of the elements Çağaptay maintained were so challenging in 2017. Syrian rebel Jihadism became a dead letter more or less as soon as the US government stopped funding it. It now only survives as a desperate, much abused adjunct of Turkish foreign policy. It's a humanitarian and moral tragedy, but the Turkish military made quick work of the Kurds as well, and have crushed Assad at every point he has peeked out beyond Putin's skirts.

This book is an illustration of the powers and limitations of Washington, DC think tankery. There's a tremendous amount of money floating around, that is capable of supporting great scholarship, like the first 9/10ths of this book. But because most of that money comes from a defense industry committed to absurd and useless goals, those scholars are compelled to warp their knowledge in service to fantasy. It's not great.

[Alex Herder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm married into a Turkish family and have spent a surprising (to me) amount of time in Turkey and getting to know Turkey. My wife's family is mostly split between Left secular politics and secular nationalist politics, so the rise of Erdogan has been a dominant conversation on every visit. Given how much I've been in and around conversations about Erdogan, I knew almost nothing about Turkish political history and I am so grateful for this book.

Çağaptay puts Erdogan in context in a way I desperately needed, and I have a much better sense of why he's been so popular and successful. One of the funniest things about talking politics with my wife's family has been the moving target of defining "democracy" and now that I've read this I understand why. Turkey has basically never been a democracy. Since Ataturk's time, they have gone through a successive pattern of military/one party rule gradually giving way to democracy and then a military coup resetting the system to the secular model put forward by Ataturk and his party (CHP).

In that context, it's harder to issue a blanket ban on Erdogan, especially at the beginning of his reign. Now that we're almost 20 years into his domination of the country, it's clear that his critics were right all along. He is a strong Islamist and is dragging the country towards an Islamist model that I think will damage future generations.

The biggest problem I had with this book is that the story ends in 2016, and a lot has happened since then. I'd love to pick up the thread with an updated version or more focused articles to understand how things stand now.

[Filip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Sultan is both political non-fiction book and biography of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, current president of Turkey. The democracy in Turkey is very fragile. After Kemal Ataturk modernised the country forces of islamisation are trying to turn the tide and return Turkey to more conservative path. Main leader of this conservative force is Erdogan, who rose from humble begginings in Istambuls subburbs to top positions in the coutry.
Erdogan is no doubt very energetic, intelligent and knows how many ordinary Turks think. He is on the path of power. According to author his plan is to be second "father of nation", in direct contrast to Ataturk. His goal is to have as much of power he can have and remodel the country according to his vision, of that muslim thecracy.
Erdogan is very controversial figure indeed. As I am writhing this (april 2025) there are massive riots in Turkey agains Erdogan. So his political position is still very much challenged in Turkey by a left wing, Kemalist, secular forces. If this book is saying anything then he will crush the oposition and amass even more power like a true dictator. Only time will tell how is everything going to end in Turkey.
This book is very good for understanding internal Turkish politics and who is Erdogan.

[Dulguun Gantumur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overall review of Erdogan's come to power and his ideological upbringing. Even as an overview of Turkish political history from Ataturk to modern Turkey, this book does a pretty good job. At times however, it is difficult to distinguish from the author's personal analysis on the subject and the factual matter at hand, which gets more and more blurry as the book progresses to the current day. Should definitely be supplemented with further readings on the subject, but a good read as an overview of Erdogan's politics and Turkish politics.

[Meral Ma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sober overview of Turkish Political history and the Rise of Erdogan,who in many ways is a product of the tortured relationship of its institutions (mostly its military) and population.The writing style is easy to follow for those who want learn more about Turkey.Soner Çağaptay takes a very balanced view of Erdogan and give a good picture of the 'Second Ataturk' (with all its connotations).