The study suggested that the number of populist leaders globally has doubled over the past 20 years, and that populist rhetoric - on left and right - has surged. It was a foretaste of the most recent – and most populist chapter – of Erdoğan’s leadership, which began when he was elected president in 2014. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Turkey president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, addressing a crowd in Kayseri, Turkey. Analysis of Erdoğan’s speeches leading up to his re-election last year put him in league with uber-populists in Latin America such as Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Bolivia’s Evo Morales. Critics may complain that Erdoğan’s brand of rightwing populist nationalism has ruined Turkey, but in the eyes of many black Turks he remains the country’s defender-in-chief.

Source: The Guardian March 11, 2019 04:52 UTC