PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a funeral on the day after the failed coup attempt against him, July 2016


Last Friday I spoke with Malaysia’s BFM Radio about the context around the latest mass killing in Turkey, the New Year’s Day shootings of 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub.

Listen to Part 1: Why the Attacks — and Erdogan’s Tough Line — Will Continue

In the second part of my 20-minute interview, I explain why President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s grip on power is not slipping — yet — and consider his pivot to cooperation with Russia, including over the Syrian crisis.

 

I think there are a lot of Turks who will go along with Erdoğan in the short term. However, when you see a rise in unemployment, when you see a spike in inflation, when you see continuing attacks that are not only killing people but also crippling the economy, then I think that will be the crisis point.

But I don’t think we’ll see that for a few months at least.