“The ship is going very fast toward the rocks,” said Ergun Ozbudun, a liberal constitutional expert who once defended Mr. Erdogan. Even a former friend, who like others feared being identified, said he had known Mr. Erdogan for 40 years, but no longer recognized him. “The conquest means going beyond the walls that the West thought were impervious,” Mr. Erdogan said as the crowd roared. Mr. Erdogan, who long professed a foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors,” now seems to be mired in disputes with just about everybody and just about everywhere. Where Mr. Erdogan once held up Turkey as a model of Muslim democracy, he now frequently attacks democratic institutions.

Source: New York Times July 04, 2016 19:18 UTC