Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh demeanor, abrasive manner and increasingly authoritarian tendencies continue to keep him in the negative limelight. It seems he has started to grate on nerves even within his Justice and Development Party (AKP). There is evidence that not everyone in the party is happy with the way he is conducting himself.
Political observers have started wondering if Erdogan is unwittingly pushing President Abdullah Gul, a co-founder of the AKP whose term as president ends next year, into the foreground politically as an alternative leader capable of dousing the social tensions he has caused.