Erdogan v Gulen

摘要

The biggest achievement of Recep Tay-yip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, during a decade of rule, has been to get the army out of politics. He did it with the help of the country's most influential Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen (pictured), who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania but commands a global network of schools, charities and media outlets. Now Mr Erdogan has turned on his former ally in a show of force that is likely to determine his own future as well as that of Turkish politics. Strange though it seems to many, Mr Gulen is perhaps the only force that can halt Mr Erdogan's drift towards authoritarianism. He is also credited with keeping Turkish Islam moderate.