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Erdogan getting hit in AKP-'Cemaat' war

Critical news of the AKP-Cemaat war leaked to the media on the eve of elections strains Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting in Istanbul December 5, 2013. REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTX164WX
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) during a meeting in Istanbul, Dec. 5, 2013. — REUTERS/Osman Orsal

The almost two-year-long strife that has been raging between the Justice and Development (AKP) government and the Gulen Movement — a faith community identified as Cemaat in Turkey — which before had been a de facto partner of the political power, has dramatically escalated lately. It is on the verge of becoming a media war with an unpredictable outcome, with secret intelligence documents being made public one after another.

The beginning date of the new power struggle between the Gulen Movement and Erdogan government — which, in an earlier joint struggle, had subdued the army that saw it as the guardian of the secular republic and therefore entitled to intervene in politics — goes back to Feb. 7, 2012.

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