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Turkey’s AKP: Who jumped ship and why

The recent resignations from Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the explanations given to them by the departing members point to an increasingly isolated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
(From L to R) Turkey's European Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis, Interior Minister Muammer Guler, Environment and City Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag  and Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan listen as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters at Esenboga Airport in Ankara December 24, 2013. Turkish ministers Caglayan and Guler resigned on Wednesday after their sons were arrested in a corruption investigation that has pitted the government against the judiciary

Gone are the days of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s all-embracing “balcony speeches.”

While it would be premature to say his Justice and Development Party (AKP) is sinking (recent polls indicate that the party still has more than 40% electoral support), it has been in treacherous waters lately and there are indications of leaks left and right, from port to starboard.

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