By Suare B: 

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political career is a clear example of this idea—a story of smart partnerships, betrayed partners, and a brilliant for blindsiding opponents with predatory precision.

Like a leopard in the wild, Erdoğan thrives on the element of surprise, turning friends into foes and foes into scapegoats, all while navigating Turkey’s foggy political landscape with ruthless adaptability. Let’s explore his journey, from a street-smart underdog to a prominent leader who reshapes allies and adversaries with equal ease.

The Rise: A Chameleon’s Ascent

Erdoğan’s story begins in 1954, born to a coastguard’s family in Istanbul’s gritty Kasımpaşa district. His rise from these humble roots to Istanbul’s mayor in 1994 under the Welfare Party was fueled by an everyman charm that resonated with conservative Muslims, urban underdogs, and those exhausted of Turkey’s secular elite. He wasn’t just a politician; he was a symbol of defiance against the Kemalist old guard.

By 2001, as co-founder of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdoğan reinvented himself. Gone was the fiery Islamist; in his place stood a “conservative democrat” promising EU-friendly reforms and economic prosperity. His coalition was a broad tent: devout Sunnis, Kurds eyeing peace, liberals craving modernization, and even the Gülen movement, a powerful Islamic network that bolstered his fight against the military’s stranglehold on politics. The results were undeniable—poverty plummeted from 42% to 13.8% by 2013, and a flourishing middle class hailed him as their champion. Yet, beneath this success, the seeds of betrayal were already sown.

The Pivot: From Allies to Enemies

Erdoğan’s loyalty to allies is short-lived, like a shadow in an Istanbul storm. By the late 2000s, his democratic mask began to crack. The 2013 Gezi Park protests, sparked by plans to raze a green space for a mall, exposed his intolerance for dissent. The same urban liberals who once backed his reforms were now labeled “thugs” and met with tear gas. The Gülenists, instrumental in curbing the military, faced an even harsher fate. After the 2016 coup attempt—blamed on Fethullah Gülen’s followers—Erdoğan launched a purge of staggering scale. Over 100,000 people, from academics to soldiers, were jailed or sacked, often on evidence as thin as a rumor. The irony? The Gülenists, once his battering ram, became his new “terrorist” obsession.

Even AKP backbones weren’t safe. Figures like former President Abdullah Gül and ex-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who helped build the party’s empire, were sidelined as Erdoğan tightened his grip, especially after the 2017 shift to a presidential system. Loyalty, it seems, is a one-way street in Erdoğan’s world.