THE man who dominates Turkish politics, and has done so for 12 years, is not running in the general election on June 7th. As president since August, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meant to stay above the fray. Yet the vote is still all about him. He is campaigning for the Justice and Development (AK) party that he founded to win a majority large enough to change the constitution into one with a strong executive presidency. It is to be hoped that he fails.
As prime minister for over 11 years Mr Erdogan notched up many achievements. The economy was mostly stabler and growth steadier than in the 1990s. He tamed Turkey’s coup-prone generals and its aggressively secularist establishment. In October 2005 he secured the prize of opening negotiations to join the European Union. He pushed Turkey into a more active foreign-policy role in the Middle East. And he has come closer than any predecessor to making peace with the country’s 15m restless Kurds.
But these achievements are now looking less impressive. Growth has slowed sharply, the lira is under pressure and investors are fretting about a coming bust, not least because Mr Erdogan has attacked the...
from The Economist: Leaders http://ift.tt/1RqGIOa
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