The genius
AKP increased Turkey's heavy reliance on Russia for energy by giving nuclear plant tenders to the Russians.
The victory of Turkey's Islamist rooted Justice and Development Party (
AKP) -- on what critics argue was a campaign built on fear and polarisation and party supporters contest was affirmation of its support among voters -- now leaves open the question of how the
AKP will rule in the deeply divided country.
The
AKP was founded in 2001 by Erdogan, ex-president Abdullah Gul, deputy PM Bulent Arinc and other associates.
Eleven years after one of the most stunning electoral victories, the promise and accomplishments of Erdogan and the
AKP risk being undermined by their reaction to public protests and government corruption.
Even though
AKP was successful in pushing for major sweeping reforms and changes to the 1982 constitution (as a result of national referendum in September 2010), its inconsistent and vague language -- regarding certain civil and political rights and their interpretations -- still prevail.
Since the
AKP came to power in Ankara in 2002, there has been an intense debate over whether the party's Middle East-focused foreign policy has genuinely made Turkey a regional power with influence in Middle Eastern capitals.
There are also concerns that the Islamic leaning
AKP is using the European constitutional reform recommendations as an excuse to bring the military and judiciary - known to be the custodians of the secular state - under its control to pursue its Islamic agenda.
Instead of merely being an introduction to the political identity of the ruling Islamist party, however, the book makes the case that the
AKP has lost its potential to democratize Turkish politics.
The case against the
AKP indicates a real conflict between two powers in Turkey: the traditional Kemalist elite including the army and bureaucratic cast who have held power and privileges within the Turkish political and economic establishment since the foundation of the Republic, and the newly growing Anatolian traders, industrialists, and investors who are in search of extending their political and economic powers.
The
AKP is not only trying to annihilate the peaceful Hizmet movement that focuses on education, dialogue and philanthropy, it has also been turning a blind eye to ISIS, to say the least.
The fact that "only" five of the Kayseri region's nine representatives in Ankara are from the
AKP is almost seen as a rebuff here.
Ever since coming to power in 2002, the
AKP has successfully injected social conservatism and anti-Western values into the country's social life and foreign policy, and it has done so with growing popular support.
