--- description: Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Can Dundar wrote about the President of Turkey. title: Recep Tayyip Erdogan by Can Dundar: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt55a831666d8c9885/6988c3480b72e377856ed630/time-100-2017-recep-tayyip-erdogan.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2017 # Recep Tayyip Erdogan by Can Dundar  ISTANBUL, TURKEY - APRIL 12 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) greets the crowd during a meeting organized by an NGO "National Will Platform" with the attendance of July 15 bloody coup attempt's martyrs' relatives and veterans at Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey on April 12, 2017\. Over 300 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 people injured in the defeated 15th of July 2016 coup attempt, which the Turkish government said was carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) led by U.S.-based Turkish citizen Fetullah Gulen. (Photo by Kayhan Ozer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) ISTANBUL, TURKEY - APRIL 12 : Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) greets the crowd during a meeting organized by an NGO "National Will Platform" with the attendance of July 15 bloody coup attempt's martyrs' relatives and veterans at Sinan Erdem Dome in Istanbul, Turkey on April 12, 2017\. Over 300 people were martyred and nearly 2,200 people injured in the defeated 15th of July 2016 coup attempt, which the Turkish government said was carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) led by U.S.-based Turkish citizen Fetullah Gulen. (Photo by Kayhan Ozer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)Photograph by Kayhan Ozer—Anadolu/Getty Images After a century of modernization oriented toward the beacon that is Western democracy, the secular Turkish republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk may be crushed by the first politician to presume his place. Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power after the country’s 2001 crisis by exploiting religion for political ends. Bolstered by a West willing to accept the facade of a “Muslim democrat,” Erdogan grew intoxicated by his own might after winning six elections in 15 years. He imprisoned dozens of journalists who criticized his regime, including me. Then, after the coup attempt on July 15, 2016, he widened his witch hunt, imprisoning more than 70,000 people. Ever more authoritarian—and glossing over Turkey’s faltering economy and alienation from the world at large—Erdogan has claimed victory in a constitutional referendum that would significantly increase his power. This actually could mark the beginning of the end, as he lost not only the cities but also the ability to cast blame elsewhere. _Dundar is the former editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily_ Cumhuriyet ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736338/recep-tayyip-erdogan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736338/recep-tayyip-erdogan/"},"headline":"Recep Tayyip Erdogan","datePublished":"2017-04-19T22:05:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:59.631Z","description":"Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on the TIME 100 2017 list. 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