Ersin Kalaycıoğlu's statement, made during an hour-long interview in the early months of 2016, is a particularly cutting summation of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's character and eerily offered a glimpse of what was to come. The quote is especially poignant given that Erdoğan's democratising initiatives in his first term, after sweeping to victory in 2002, resulted in Turkey being hailed as a model for the rest of the Muslim world and given that, a decade later, Turkey had incrementally been transformed into a sub-type of authoritarian regime under Erdoğan's leadership.

Hence, this begs the question: how do we explain Turkey's shift away from democracy to authoritarian rule? This chapter will show that the gradual reversal of democracy was once again largely due to the political leadership. Erdoğan's leadership style falls in line with the country's political history, whereby leaders have consistently failed to display a commitment to democratic norms and institutions. In its most acute manifestation, his leadership has displayed the same pattern of intolerance, eschewing institutional forbearance, violation of rights and lacking respect for institutions and processes of democracy, all of which resulted in Turkey's slide towards authoritarian rule.

This chapter will outline the details that led to the creation of Erdoğan's Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) and how Erbakan's autocratic rule of his Islamist parties triggered another party split in Turkey. The following sections will move through the steps taken by Erdoğan to remove the military as the arbiter of politics; to erode the independence of the judiciary; and to monopolise the media landscape. The chapter will conclude by outlining Erdoğan's third legislative term from 2011 to 2015 and in what manner the Assembly became an institution to fortify his power against challenge and establish his personalised rule.