"Erdogan dreams of bringing Turkey back to its Ottoman glory and is willing to exploit religion (and abolish Laicism) to do so."

I don't know if this is true, it may as well be that he caters to the majority in current Turkey.

Things are a mess in Turkey, but I'm not sure that is Erdogans fault. He's got ISIS, Russia and an aggressive West to deal with, along with a divided nation.

I'm all for an open democracy, but I don't think that would work in Turkey in this horrible situation. A measure of safety does come before democracy, a reality we are quick to forget in the more peaceful parts of the world.

IIRC, his political opponents had their chance and blew it in a spectacular manner, so that even more people voted for Erdogan. What good is a military coup, if the current government is the least of the possible evils?

I don't know much about Turkey, but I feel we may be guilty of judging Erdogan out of true context.