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He has dreams of grandeur of a ottoman revival. I forsee his popularity take a hit.

Unfortunately his popularity was already nose-diving in an increasingly more secular, pro-EU Turkey. He's got Islamic inclinations which most of that culture is avidly and keenly phasing out.

From an architectural viewpoint, "palace" looks more like an enlarged appartment complex?!

Amir Al Mu'miniinn Recep Tayyip Erdogan lol

Unfortunately his popularity was already nose-diving in an increasingly more secular, pro-EU Turkey. He's got Islamic inclinations which most of that culture is avidly and keenly phasing out.

From an architectural viewpoint, "palace" looks more like an enlarged appartment complex?!

Turkish secularism is dying and they will have an Islamic revival

Unfortunately his popularity was already nose-diving in an increasingly more secular, pro-EU Turkey. He's got Islamic inclinations which most of that culture is avidly and keenly phasing out.

From an architectural viewpoint, "palace" looks more like an enlarged appartment complex?!

It's the opposite. Turks don't support going into the EU and most dislike NATO

Sure, the secularists hate him. But that's because him and his party were able to effectively sideline the military establishment.

Turkey is actually a Muslim country being ran by Muslims now.

Before it was a Muslim country being run by legit gaalo, not just gaalo-rac

Turkey has energy issues and their economy will slowdown. But Erdogan and the AKP record is very favorably because of that.

Unfortunately his popularity was already nose-diving in an increasingly more secular, pro-EU Turkey. He's got Islamic inclinations which most of that culture is avidly and keenly phasing out.

From an architectural viewpoint, "palace" looks more like an enlarged appartment complex?!

How is his popularity taking a nosedive when he won the presidential seat with the highest margin in Turkey's history?

Turkey is not becoming more secular but seculars have lost more and more power because of the AKP. Turkey is mostly conservative outside of places like Ankara. Especially in the countryside, which is Erdogan's base is.

The only thing of worry for Erdogan is the economy which is not growing like it has been.

I see, thanks Shirib & FAH. I was under the impression most influential/high earning of the voting population is still very secular? Turkey has applied for EU membership in the past and as far as I understand it it wasn't rejected (correct me if I'm wrong) it's still being considered. They've recently renewed their stance, showing how much of an asset they would be for the EU countries if they joined, seeing as their economy is very strong by comparison and they are making solid, steady progress year on year. I don't pretend to know much about the views of the populus, so please do enlighten me wherever I am am wrong.

PO: he had strong and very vocal opposition whenever he was elected, last time having just a simple 51% majority (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_pr ... tion,_2014) . Like FAH said, unfortunately the secularists have stronger links with the military, and if Turkey had faced the unpredictable economic climates that Egypt, Thailand and other similar countries were in, Turkey would too be under threat from military occupation (martial law); there was talk of this happening in the riots of 2013 & 2014 (which were by enraged secularists, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80 ... _in_Turkey), but of course this never materialised (unlikely, mainly because the economy is so good).

@Fah
'Erdogan has built himself a palace' is an inaccurate statement, the palace does not personally belong to him, it belongs to the state, I believe he will vacate the building as soon as he finishes his term. The media like to present this Image of an authoritarian leader who is misusing the country's fortune for personal gain because they don't like him. They simply want to character assassinate him and put him in a bad light.

Yes he had a 51 percent majority in the first ever direct presidential election. That is a major victory considering the low turnout. Nevertheless just because you have vocal opposition doesn't mean it is a large one. The secularists have always been a minority that was in power thanks to the military. That threat has been eliminated by the AKP, when they cut off their balls. They even tried officers for coup attempts something unthinkable when the military had power now they don't get involved with politics.

Yes he had a 51 percent majority in the first ever direct presidential election. That is a major victory considering the low turnout. Nevertheless just because you have vocal opposition doesn't mean it is a large one. The secularists have always been a minority that was in power thanks to the military. That threat has been eliminated by the AKP, when they cut off their balls. They even tried officers for coup attempts something unthinkable when the military had power now they don't get involved with politics.

1) there are no stats on turnouts to previous presidential elections, nor the % by which previous presidents won, thus comparison cannot be made. Statements of "it was a major victory" are hence invalid. Only stats are on number of seats won in the council.

2) Constitution for voting was changed (electoral reforms were made) since the 2007 elections, where a party had to earn 2/3 of the public vote. The 2014 presidential elections were the first in which a candidate had to only gain more than 50% of the vote in order to enter office as president. 51% is thus a slim win

3) I am not commenting on whether secularists make up a majority/minority. I am stating that secularism is a fact in Turkey. As far as I understand it, Turkish presidency and secularism are as old as each other. The first president removed "Islam" as the religion of the state back in the 20s, and since then successive governments have been actively neutral in their policies, as enforced by the ammended constitution. Turkey's least secular prime ministers were Erdogan and Gul before him, and they both faced very hostile secularist reactions.

It looks grotesque. Thought he'd go for something more palatial, more Ottoman..

@Fah
'Erdogan has built himself a palace' is an inaccurate statement, the palace does not personally belong to him, it belongs to the state, I believe he will vacate the building as soon as he finishes his term. The media like to present this Image of an authoritarian leader who is misusing the country's fortune for personal gain because they don't like him. They simply want to character assassinate him and put him in a bad light.

Exactly. I couldn't have said it any better.

The reason he keeps winning is that his support base comes from
The peasants, other midsize cities in the deep Asian part of the country and lastly people who are acknowledging his economical revival of the country's fortunes.

One thing that I despise about Turkey is how openly homosexuals are tolerated. The only Islamic country where homosexuals have gay parade day. Those military regimes made sure they polluted a Muslim identity of a once great Muslim empire.

Unfortunately his popularity was already nose-diving in an increasingly more secular, pro-EU Turkey. He's got Islamic inclinations which most of that culture is avidly and keenly phasing out.

From an architectural viewpoint, "palace" looks more like an enlarged appartment complex?!

O'really?