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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been ruling Turkey for over 23 years. He has now established a one-man system tailored solely to him. As an all-powerful president, virtually all powers lie in his hands. Why does he – who ruthlessly eliminates his critics and is regarded by many as a tyrant – enjoy such popularity with so many people? How did he manage to become Turkey’s most powerful politician since Atatürk? Who is this man?
The ARD series ERDOĞAN sets out to uncover the truth: for the first time, former colleagues and confidants from Erdoğan’s immediate circle describe this man’s journey from an unwavering idealist to a controversial ruler. Their accounts reveal the inner drive behind his rise and the mechanisms of his power: why was he able to turn political defeats into opportunities time and again? Where does his political instinct for recognising key moments and exploiting them to his advantage come from? How did he manage to be elected as the undisputed sole ruler?
The documentary series portrays Erdoğan as if under a magnifying glass – impartially, with an analytical eye, but always as a story in which the figure himself takes centre stage: with triumphs and defeats, setbacks, ways out and turning points. Is he a reformer or a ‘political chameleon’ who is consistently focused on retaining power? What role does the Turkish community in Germany play? How do his wife Emine and his children support him? What role do political networks play? And how did he manage to increasingly marginalise the military, the guardian of the secular republic? How does he view the legacy of the nation’s founder, Atatürk – does he wish to step out of his shadow? How has he managed to weather all the crises and intrigues? Why, despite massive resistance from the population, does he remain at the helm to this day?
Leading politicians such as the former Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, the former US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta, the former President and long-standing European Parliament rapporteur on Turkey, Martin Schulz, Erdoğan’s former private secretary Turhan Çömez, Nihal Olçok, the widow of Erdoğan’s long-standing campaign strategist and AKP co-founder Fatma Bostan Ünsal, and Ertuğrul Günay, the long-serving Minister of Culture in Erdoğan’s cabinet, offer, for the first time, very personal insights into the life and psyche of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The ARD series weaves their contributions into a multi-layered portrait that shows the seemingly untouchable Turkish president as he has rarely been seen before.
