Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is fighting hard to dispel the black clouds that have gathered over his government after a prosecutor initiated a massive corruption probe on Dec. 17, which also implicated members of his government.

Erdogan, who claims he is faced with an international conspiracy aimed at toppling his government, is using his executive powers now in what seems a desperate effort to alter the legal system as well as regulations governing policing practices, to protect himself and his government against further corruption allegations.

Many questions, however, if these and other similar steps will be enough to raise the pall that has settled over his political career. The corruption scandal is doubly disastrous for Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), coming as it does when crucial local elections are only three months away.

Erdogan’s handling of this crisis will also have a bearing on the presidential elections next summer, which he hopes to contest and win. But his angry railings against perceived domestic and foreign enemies — most of whom are said by his critics to be imaginary — and the steps his government is taking to ostensibly combat this “conspiracy,” are merely augmenting his image as an authoritarian politician with dictatorial tendencies.