A line heard frequently in Turkey is, “The Justice and Development Party [AKP] has no saga left to tell.”

The word “saga” can be explained as promises that capture and excite constituents. This rhetoric has been heard more often since August, when several AKP mayors were pressured to resign. That action came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May 2017 had candidly observed the diminishing enthusiasm in his party's ranks, which he compared with “metal fatigue.” Al-Monitor observed how Erdoganmania evolved into Erdogan fatigue by July, and since then most pundits have been using "the end of the AKP’s saga" as a careful way of explaining the dissolving political structure.

Since July, the discomfort has grown far beyond fatigue, despite a well-institutionalized censorship on media. The AKP has not just run out of ideas to excite the masses, but also is experiencing erosion of its ideological core — namely the Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood. Erdogan, seen as the AKP's crux, remains unchallenged, but he and his slogans have lost their impact. Crowds in every city Erdogan visits seem to cheer for him and applaud at the end of his remarks, but there are signs of discontent.

For example, on Dec. 15, while speaking in Istanbul, Erdogan asked the crowd, “Who does the Islamic world look up to?" Failing to get an answer, he said, “You are quiet; where do they look? Of course they are looking at Turkey.”