TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdoğan was prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and has been president since 2014. His government introduced a presidential system in 2017, expanded religious education, and pursued active military and foreign policies in Syria, Libya and beyond.
In the 12 Axes register, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan leans hardest on Democratic – Autocratic: Autocratic 83%; the register median is Democratic 68%.
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Where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sits on each of the twelve axes, in four categories. The label is our estimate; the line under it says why.
Centralized
Governs a centralized unitary state
Oligarchy
Created the 2017 executive presidential system
Authoritarian
Rival İmamoğlu jailed since 2025; mass purges after 2016
Nationalist
Pursues assertive Turkish national interests abroad
Military-Focused
Ran military operations in Syria, Iraq and Libya
Assimilationist
Ended Kurdish peace process in 2015 after earlier language reforms
Economic Liberal
Promoted state-linked construction and private business
Balanced
Pressed unconventional low interest rate policy
Moderate
Balanced NATO membership with Russia ties
Religious
Expanded Islamic schools and converted Hagia Sophia to a mosque
Traditionalist
Withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in 2021
Neutral
Dropped evolution from curricula; Turkey exports Bayraktar drones
Set against the median of all 124 figures in the register.
Democratic – Autocratic
On Democratic – Autocratic, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is at Autocratic 83%. The register median is Democratic 68%.
Isolationism – Globalism
On Isolationism – Globalism, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is at balanced 50%, almost the register median of balanced 50%.
Closeness is 100 minus the root-mean-square distance on all twelve axes.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.britannica.com
Portrait: Rory Arnold, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped and resized.
The tiers on this page are our estimates from public positions and policies. They are not an official statement by the person or the government concerned. Two independent passes scored every axis and a third settled the differences. How the register works. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].
