I remember the first time I saw the Turkish leader speaking publicly. It was on May 28, 2004: the then Prime Minister delivered a speech titled “Why the EU Needs Turkey” at St John’s College in Oxford. Next to Calypso Nikolaidis, a Greek-French professor of European Politics, and the late Geoffrey Lewis, the chair of Turkish Studies at Oxford, Erdoğan proudly promised that he would make “European values the values of Ankara.”

Europe, he explained, was not a “narrowly geographical entity” but a transformative union in which Turkey deserved a place. His message, however, was hopeful: Turkey had done its utmost to proceed with democratic reforms, to confront the ghosts of its Turkish past, to improve human rights conditions, and to achieve economic development.

This book deals with what changed dramatically in a short period of time. Why did Turkey succumb to authoritarianism and why did it become engulfed in nationalism, distancing itself from the West? For many, the answer is simple: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan…

In Erdoğan’s Turkey, Dimitar Bechev, an expert in International Relations and lecturer at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, narrates and interprets, step by step, how Turkey lost its European perspective and yielded to authoritarian politics. Although it focuses on the two decades of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it delves into the past and the nature of Turkish society that allowed the emergence of the current personalized regime.

“Insightful and comprehensive, Bechev’s book does not merely identify the problem but proposes solutions.” L.A. Review of Books

“An outstanding book by a leading scholar.” Gönül Tol, Middle East Institute

“A captivating narrative, well-researched, lively, with carefully selected examples, a historical analysis of Turkey's trajectory from 1970 to the present.” Rosa Balfour, Carnegie Europe