Erdogan the ‘sultan’: Turkish coup attempt reveals rising anxiety about president’s authoritarian streak

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently facing down an attempted military coup, is the most divisive leader in the history of the modern republic.

Adored by his supporters as a transformative figure who modernised Turkey, his foes have painted him as an increasingly despotic leader who ruthlessly shuts down any criticism.

Turkey has suffered a wave of deadly bombings as Erdogan’s government pursues twin military campaigns against Kurdish rebels in the south and Islamic State in neighbouring Syria.

And his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has long been accused of seeking to impose conservative Islamic values on society – a possible point of friction with a military that has long seen itself as the guardian of Turkey’s secular state.

Rising from premier to become the nation’s first directly elected president in 2014, Erdogan has dreamed of boosting his hold even further by changing the constitution to give Turkey a US-style executive presidency. But the dramatic events of Friday night have shaken his grip on power in a way few could have imagined even a day earlier.