Turkey Under Erdogan: How a Country Turned from Democracy and the West

by Dimitar Bechev

An incisive account of Erdoğan’s Turkey – showing how its troubling transformation may be short-lived

Since coming to power in 2002 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has overseen a radical transformation of Turkey. Once a pillar of the Western alliance, the country has embarked on a militaristic foreign policy, intervening in regional flashpoints from Nagorno-Karabakh to Libya. And its democracy, sustained by the aspiration to join the European Union, has given way to one-man rule.

Dimitar Bechev traces the political trajectory of Erdoğan’s populist regime, from the era of reform and prosperity in the 2000s to the effects of the war in neighboring Syria. In a tale of missed opportunities, Bechev explores how Turkey parted ways with the United States and Europe, embraced Putin’s Russia and other revisionist powers, and replaced a frail democratic regime with an authoritarian one. Despite this, he argues that Turkey’s democratic instincts are resilient, its economic ties to Europe are as strong as ever, and Erdoğan will fail to achieve a fully autocratic regime.

Genres: Politics, History, Middle East, Nonfiction, International Relations

280 pages, Hardcover

Published June 28, 2022

About the author

Dimitar Bechev is the director of the European Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Previously, he held research fellowships at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and headed the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Dr. Bechev has written extensively on EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and Russia’s foreign policy. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, the American Interest, Politico, Foreign Policy, and openDemocracy. He holds a D.Phil. (PhD) from the University of Oxford.

Reviews

[dantelk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it is a fairly objective book, tough since the events it covers are very recent, the actual outcomes and reasons for very recent past is still a bit blur for everyone. Still a fair read.

This book is not a personal book about Erdoğan, but a short into to the latest affairs in Turkish history, and where AKP and the other parties position themselves at. The book explains the reasons why Erdoğan is so successfull (if you measure success by elections) in politics, and why the others are not.

All in all, I would recommend reading this book, I think the author is objective, and I learned new stuff or I was reminded about some facts. This book is not written for blaming someone for something like many others on this topic. Rather, it tries to explain how things unfolded.

Notes
-> Did Özal's presidency REALLY did seed the polarization between secularist and religiously devout?
-> Federalization is a no-no for the Turkish society.
-> CHP campaigned aains the Armenian Opening from the very outset. Deniz Baykal remarked that he weould have the foolball game played in Baku. :)
-> I should give a chance to Davutoğlu's book.
-> Serbs watch "Muhteşem yüzyıl" a lot???
-> One state, one nation, one fatherland, one flag. AND ONE LEADER :D
-> Beştepe is a reference to state power.
-> Why is the Barış Süreci over? And whose fault is it? (book says both sides). I think this is the most important shame of all past years of Turkey, what a great opportunity missed.
-> Among the 46 names that were promoted in 2010 and 2015, 23 where in the putsch.
-> Navy is getting more and more important and Ankara is no longer the "soft powert".
-> Syrians hired as soldiers to be deloyed at Tripoli, for $2000. Reminds me of USA and Russia military system.
-> Religious conservatives are dropping, so does AKP votes.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing, but informative, this book focuses more on the context and broader environment that produced Erdogan than on biography, and is better for it. The chapters are loosely thematic/loosely chronological, and at times it is easy to get confused about what is happening when as Bechev does loop around a bit. There is an excellent timeline in the beginning, which does help for those, like me, with less detailed memory of the last 20 years of Eurasian politics. Bechev pays attention to the rapidly changing environment, broader politics (it is surprising to remember how much was different before 9/11 in the way politics was drawn) and the changing political nature of Islamism. I don't really know enough to critique Bechev's analysis, but it made a lot of sense, and explained some of the rapid turn about in relations with the AKP. Published in 2022, nothing since has contradicted his prediction that Erdogan will continue to balance a relationship with Putin with other strategic allies.

[Pieter Declerck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for those whon want to understand the foreign policy of Turkey during the last 45 years.

[Elizabete]

Good read that could serve as a primer to cover a lot of ground and maybe pick up additional books/papers to dwelve deeper in sections. If I had to offer some criticism, that would probably be on the almost exclusively English language citations and opinion commentary. While on one side that means anyone reading this book can easily read the cited material, it also means other perspectives and lesser known academics/commentators have not been considered.

[Yannick M · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many politics books that mainly involve the authors conversations with taxi drivers or tell the stories of some interesting people the author has met over the years.

This is no such book. It really dives into the details of the past 30 years of turkish history and the geopolitics of the region. This is exactly what i was looking for, but i could imagine that this might be a bit dry an overwhelming if this is the first book about turkey you read.

Reading the book, i was constantly thinking about what might have been. If there was some way to have an AKP that actually was the islamic version of the CDU that people thought it was at the beginning. In the early years, especially while EU accession was still a realistic goal, the first AKP government implemented a lot important changes

In October 2001, parliament passed 34 constitutional amendments touching on issues such as gender equality highlighted in the European Commission monitoring reports. A new Civil Code guaranteed women’s property rights in case of divorce. Three further packages adopted in 2002 abolished the death penalty in peacetime, allowed broadcasting in languages other than Turkish (addressing a long-standing Kurdish demand), and made possible the retrial of cases the ECtHR had found to be in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Europeanization generated momentum for change, opening the next chapter in the country’s political history. In November 2002, a plurality of Turkish voters backed the AKP which, in contrast to its predecessor Refah, espoused the goal of EU membership

Over the years Erdogan was also responsible for normalisation of relations with Armenia and two openings towards the kurds over the years. All of those things eventually collapsed and maybe Erdogan only ever committed to them for instrumental reasons, but nevertheless they show Erdogan being willing to go against the Kemalist establishment on important issues and show that he was not always the nationalist that he arguably became.

Also, many of the important thinkers in the AKP have been forced to leave and the core of the party now consists of people that are loyal to Erdogan above all else:

Davutoğlu’s ouster was the endpoint in the AKP’s transformation into a party fully beholden to Erdoğan. It had already shed its liberal fellow travelers who were instrumental to its success in the 2000s. The aftermath of the Gezi protests of 2013 saw off party co-founder Abdullah Gül.13 Next in line was Bülent Arınç, the third co-founder, who had served as parliament speaker in the crucial years between 2002 and 2007 and as deputy prime minister under Davutoğlu. Arınç resigned in August 2015 over the failure of the Kurdish peace process. Ali Babacan, one of the architects of Turkish economic policy in the boom years in the 2000s, left at that point too. Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan, Erdoğan’s former confidante, stepped down together with Davutoğlu in May 2016, followed by Interior Minister Efkan Âlâ in August 2016. At the end of the 2010s, former AKP grandees would provide cadres for splinter parties such as Gelecek Partisi (Future Party) set up by Davutoğlu and Gül and Babacan’s Deva (Democracy and Progress Party, Demokrasi ve Atılım Partisi). What supplanted AKP 1.0 is a circle held together by nepotism and loyalty to Erdoğan, a fatherly figure of sorts, rather than ideology or common roots.

What I also kept wondering is what Turkey would have become with a monetary policy that was just a bit less that just completely insane.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended by the Turkish dad of my partner, given my total lack of knowledge of Turkish history. Felt like a neutral portrayal. I don't agree with a review saying it reduces Erdogans popularity to him manipulating elections. E.g. Bechev discusses Erdogan's populist rhetoric, and careful alliance building e.g. with Kurdish voices.

Recent Turkish history is wilder than I expected, and both painful and hopeful.

Some notes:
- Book focuses on the time after the 1980s military coup, that was preceded by Weimar-like political dysfunction combined with rampant left- and right-wing extremist violence (Claude says this caused 20-30 deaths per day)
- A lot of the book focuses on the Turkish relationship to Europe, the efforts to liberalize economically and socially in order to become more integrated and at some point join the EU, which as a block is by far Turkey's biggest trading partner
- The 1989 exodus of more than 300k Turks from Bulgaria to Turkey after Soviet dictatorship ramped up practices of ethnic cleansing, prohibiting Turkish language usage and cultural practices, forced name changes. This was mentioned almost parenthetically. JFC.
- The whole process of potential EU integration feels like a mess. Bechev mentions that the idea of Turkish membership was polling fairly badly in the EU, and I suspect that relevant EU leaders were irresponsible with suggesting to the Turkish government the possibility of accession in anything but a very long-term timeframe. This plausibly would've prevented bitterness and disappointment as well as inner-European frictions. But it also seems likely that Erdogan was never an honest broker here and was pro-European for as long as it helped his grip to power.
- The Gülen movement seems really interesting for its apparent ability to have captured chunks of the intellectual leading class and systematically placing them in government positions. I wonder whether their expulsion in 2016 might've significantly contributed to why I hear rumors of fairly low-quality human capital in many government positions. Besides of course the effects from firing people seen as not aligned with and loyal to Erdogan. (Claude thinks it's mostly the latter.)
- Turkey seems to have a lot of potential as a leading role for muslim majority countries, with one foot in Europe and one in the middle east. Unfortunately Erdogan has rejected Atatürk's secularism, and overall seems relatively narrowly interested in strengthening his regime, as well as strengthening aligned islamist groups, and less in going down in history as a peace maker.

[Caleb Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a short work, Bechev covers an enormous amount of ground, discussing decades of Turkish foreign policy and domestic political developments. In that sense, this is excellent as an introduction to the subject, which I was looking for. He gives credence to a variety of interpretations regarding Erdoğan's rule and limits attention to the rhetorical and symbolic dimensions of Erdoğan's leadership that are often focused on in similar analyses. The broadness of the subject makes it a bit of a dry read at times, and I would have liked more details about Erdoğan's foreign relations beyond Europe and Türkiye's neighbors. However, it's still an excellent primer and a nuanced perspective on Türkiye's political trajectory up to the present day.

[Mads Floyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good text about Turkish political culture. Had some rather fascinating insights and observations, and actually opened my mind a bit further concerning the Russo-Turkish political dynamic which has brought them at several points to the brink of war. That being said, I feel that the book is lacking in its premise of general democratic unraveling -other books I’ve read present this point far better- and seems to suggest that the AKP took power entirely democratically up until a certain point, which of course is a bizarre thing to suggest. All-in-all a worthwhile text, although I prefer Erdogan Rising if we are to consider a mid-to-late 2010’s book upon the AKP’s rise to power.

[Behzat KARA]

Too expensive to buy from Turkish people who want to learn what is going on in their country from an objective perspective. I m going to use a penny bank to buy this one, god knows how much days i need

[Harrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good primer on the arc of Turkish geopolitics over the last twenty years.

[Sr]

How to read

[Ilia Markov · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Turkey went from a poster child to authoritarianism.