I have been watching Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for more than a decade now. I have always found him to be a charismatic public speaker. He would not put you to sleep; he has a good sense of humor. His personal charms have helped him survive the troubled waters of Turkish politics. Sadly, things have changed. In a gradual yet steady manner as Erdogan has become rather enraged. Since Dec. 17, I have crouched in my chair with fear watching Erdogan. Those of you who are not able to understand what I am trying to say can watch this video and view his chilling reactions answering a few simple questions during a news conference. In this instance, a journalist properly asked Erdogan about the three allegations, “whether he knows of and owns villas built on land that belongs to the treasury, whether he had telephoned a television channel boss to delete a bottom-of-the-screen news crawl about an opposition leader’s comments on live TV and whether Erdogan had ordered businessmen to create a 'pool' of money to purchase a newspaper and television conglomerate.”

There are several allegations against Erdogan’s party. Tthe Justice and Development Party (AKP) refers to these as “operations” or attempts of a “coup” by different lobbies. From “losers' lobby” to “Jewish” or “pineapple” and the latest, “robot” lobby, Erdogan has uttered at least 20 different lobby names since June 2013. This is when there are no registered interest groups in the Turkish political system.

Nevertheless, on Feb. 25 there were protests asking the government to resign, which were met with tear gas and water cannon again, in several cities against the latest alleged “corruption” leaks (the notorious phone conversation between Erdogan and his son Bilal) following another revelation that pro-Gulen movement prosecutors have wiretapped thousands of bureaucrats, journalists and academics and that the AKP government had just learned about this.

Going back to the Feb. 24 alleged corruption leak, the recording released on YouTube involves five phone conversations between Erdogan and his son Bilal. The conversations were allegedly recorded Dec. 17-18. It starts with Erdogan explaining to his son the start of the graft probe with four ministers’ sons being arrested, their houses searched and money seized by police. Then Erdogan asks his son, “What about your house?” The rest of the dialogue was based on how to get the cash out of the house without attracting attention and which family members should be contacted about the matter. On Feb. 25, Erdogan told the public that this treacherous attack was not on him the individual but rather against “the Turkish prime minister” and that it would not stand. He also said, “We will answer all allegations when the time comes” — but not until the next elections.