'Big Brother' to move into Erdogan’s palace

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has an insatiable appetite for control, and is what Westerners call a "control freak." Erdogan, who gathered the Cabinet at his palace despite the perceptible discomfort of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who is technically the head of the council of ministers, has frequently tampered with the legislative process in the parliament; targeted the independence of the central bank, which dared not to heed his demands for lower interest rates; consolidated his hold over the judiciary and the police; used his personal contacts to keep the media under his thumb and enjoyed regulating the personal lives of citizens, including how many children they should have. His latest intervention was to prevent the former undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, who had resigned, from running in elections and returning to his former post.

His newest venture is to set up a "Big Brother" system in his controversial palace. It may sound like an exaggeration, but from his control center, Erdogan will be able to keep an eye on 77 million Turkish citizens.