Man in the Middle

This article was originally published here on ForeignAffairs.com on Thursday, March 27, 2014. 

This is where many Turks, Europeans, and Americans have hoped that Gul would step in to steer Turkey back onto a democratic course. In mid-February, Gunay Hilal Aygun, a columnist for the Gulen-affiliated Today’s Zaman, asked, “Will President Gul let the Turkish people down?” The Financial Times picked up on this theme a few weeks later when the editorial board called on Gul “to take a stand” against Erdogan. What these observers seem to want is for Gul to come down from the apolitical confines of his presidential office and directly challenge Erdogan for leadership of the AKP, with a promise of restoring the party’s original coalition, which included pious Muslims of all stripes, Kurds, secular liberals, and the business elite. These hopes aren’t entirely fanciful, but they are far too optimistic. In fact, they have fundamentally missed Gul’s broader reading of Turkish politics.

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