A "model' Islamic democracy in flames

He’s also clipped the wings of the once-powerful army, filled the judiciary with Islamist judges, made his allies wealthy and cracked down on the press — with brutal financial pressure as well as (on the pretext of an imaginary secret plot against the state) dozens of arrests…

President Obama is famously an Erdogan admirer; White House aides say he calls on Erdogan for advice more often than on any other leader in the region.

But at home, unease grows daily. He has rounded up critics, intimidated political opponents and gradually forced Islam on Turkey’s largely secular urbanites. (The Gezi Park protesters quickly added anger to a law limiting the sales of alcohol as one one of their causes.)

Erdogan’s term-limited premiership ends next year, but he’s pushing a constitutional revision that would allow him to rule from the now largely ceremonial presidency. That would let him hold authoritarian power for at least another decade.