Did Obama get Erdogan wrong?

That doesn’t mean Obama has any love for Turkey’s longtime leader. Though he once saw him as a potential role model for Muslim leaders, Obama now considers Erdogan a thuggish autocrat who threatens Turkey’s democracy almost as much as the generals who tried to overthrow him. But Obama also understands that he’s stuck with Erdogan, a NATO partner he must deal with on critical security issues like the Islamic State and Syria. “You have to deal with the Turkey you have, rather than the one you’d like to have,” said James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey under Obama.

But the strained relationship could grow even more tense in Obama’s last months in office, as U.S. officials fret that Erdogan, having survived the coup, may consolidate his power further. Current and former U.S. officials now say Obama, having verbally defended Erdogan against the coup plotters, must again put his foot down in the name of democracy, imploring the Turkish leader not to use the failed putsch as an excuse to persecute political enemies and further stifle civil society—even as talk swirls anew within Turkey of a U.S. hand in the coup…

Doing more to defend Turkish democracy would be a change for a president who, critics say, has put America’s strategic partnership with Turkey ahead of defending human rights and democracy within the country — imposing little price on Erdogan as he has ousted political opponents, intimidated journalists and overseen the arrest of thousands on charges of criticizing the president. Experts say that escalating climate of repression may well have contributed to the military’s dramatic move. Some also complain that Obama has little to show in return from Erdogan, who has been at best a reluctant ally in the fight against ISIS and a supporter of Islamist groups the U.S. opposes, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.