In a farewell speech at his party’s Aug. 27 convention, Turkey’s President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the High Court of Appeals. The speech provided insight into Erdogan's state of mind and what is in store for the country in the coming days.

Erdogan, infuriated by a decision of the High Court of Appeals, branded the judges “assassins,” referring to the Ismaili order that branched off from Shiism in the 11th century and became notorious for its political assassinations.

Erdogan typically uses this term to vilify members of the Gulen movement, his former ally. Tensions between Erdogan and the Gulenists erupted into a fierce war on Dec. 17, 2013, when police and prosecutors targeted Erdogan’s ministers and cronies in a large-scale corruption probe. Erdogan claimed that Gulenists entrenched in the police and judiciary were plotting to unseat his government — a theory he continues to propagate while never addressing the fraud allegations. For Erdogan, the Gulen movement’s sympathizers in the bureaucracy form a “parallel state.” As a result of the massive purge Erdogan instigated against the “parallel state” over the corruption probe, hundreds of judges and prosecutors and thousands of police officers were reshuffled, with some landing behind bars on charges of illegal wiretapping and espionage.

By describing the judges of the High Court of Appeals as "assassins," Erdogan is demonstrating how the "parallel state" narrative has become a catch-all weapon to smear critics and those with potential clout to limit his power.