Fight against those trying to destabilize your country's progress and be branded extremist. He knows those "protests" trying to overthrow his government were sponsored from powers outside his country with the help of Turkish collaborators. This is a democracy. He has an overwhelming support of his people and they obviously support his politics.
I am full of admiration and respect for the AKP with Erdogan and Gul leading the way the past decade. If anyone wants an example of a Muslim movement it is their movement.
They have achieved the impossible.
1. Defanged and dislodged from power what was basically a military dictatorship in all but name.
2. They did this using democracy and the people's power and the law.
They played by the rules that were stacked against them and won.
The constitution that was put in place a few years back defangs the millitary.
The secularists (anti-Muslims) still dominate the military hierarchy but this will change in the next 10-20 years.
Currently today you will not be promoted as an officer, no matter how excellent you are if people see you pray regularly or avoid alcohol.
This will change, the AKP have already removed the handicaps from the school system.
In the past you would be graded down a few percentiles if you studied in a school that teaches Islamic studies as a subject. Even if it is an elective. You would not be able to get into Military College at all..
Finally it all comes down to economics. The small and medium businesses that have been driving growth since the 70's are dominated by traditional Muslims. These businesses also dominate the high tech electronics and manufacturing industries. The secularists kept themselves the massive state enterprises that have become non-profitable.
The secularists bet on the wrong horse and have lost. Attempting to join the EU, forced them to liberalize and allow more democracy.
More democracy allowed a Muslim party to rule a Muslim country.
Secularists are just about 20-25% of the population. Its high number because of the Alevis and the Donmbe minorities that just plain do not like Muslims/Islam.
There is a reason why Erdogan despite the the past couple years with the corruption issue, the protests, etc is still very popular.
However, his autocratic tendencies are starting to grow and he has lost control of what the sense is on the streets. He has become more reactionary the past few years. Gul is unhappy with the direction of the country as well. This election is a huge gamble by Erdogan no matter how one slices it.
The economic situation which has been very good for the last decade is an ongoing issue and may turn into a crisis soon.
The Turkish economy is heavily in debt, and the debt is the worst kind, short term debts.
They have had to resort to short term loans from the UAE and Saudi, this is why they have been quiet about their support for the Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) and their offshoots.
They dont want to upset the Saudis and UAE further because these two are keeping the Turkish economy from dropping.
The cause for this problem is too much fuel imports, Turkey desperately needs access to cheaper fuel. This is why it is breaking Iran sanctions, and this is why they will deal with Kurdistan.
If there is oil discovered in Somalila/Somaliland, Turkey will be the first customer, even though Genel is no longer a Turkish company, the main shareholder is the Rothschilds.
