May 11, 2016

These days, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is making farewell visits to the heads of various state institutions, from the military to the Directorate of Religious Affairs. On May 22, at the snap congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he will be replaced by a new party chair and a new prime minister. All of Turkey knows by now that this new man will keep a low profile and be fully obedient to the master of the show: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It can be safely said that Davutoglu's departure marks even greater concentration of power in the hands of Erdogan. The new power structure includes a new Erdoganist narrative, in which obedience to the leader is openly praised as a virtue — and required as a duty.

One example of this narrative came from Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek in a lead article published by Anadolu, one of the many pro-Erdogan newspapers that has popped up lately. “Obedience to the leader is a must,” the headline read, quoting Gokcek. “The concept of a leader and absolute obedience to this leader exists in our faith, in our state tradition,” Gokcek said. “The leader can make mistakes … yet still the decision he makes … must be obeyed.”

Apparently, this obedience is an obligation for not just the party, but also the pro-AKP media world, which now makes up the majority of Turkish media outlets. In Aksam, columnist Markar Esayan underlined the nation’s unbreakable love for Erdogan, thanks to his “manliness, faith, success, courage.” This love, which he personally shares, is the “steel core of the cause,” Esayan wrote. It was so strong that it could not be weakened by “sinister [criticism] such as authoritarianism, patriarchy, cult of the leader, dictatorship or corruption.” Finally, Esayan explained how his love must be expressed by himself and all other Erdogan lovers: “Let everybody be comfortable and keep his eye on the chief. Are we not a huge orchestra looking in the eyes of its conductor? Can this work be done any other way?”

Another pro-Erdogan pundit, Kadir Misiroglu, 83, who has been known for decades for his fez-wearing Ottomanism, took the narrative to a more theological level. In a speech presented on his popular website and that soon made its way around the web, Misirlioglu condemned Davutoglu for not being fully “obedient” to Erdogan. “He saw obedience as being low,” Misirlioglu commented, “just like Satan, who refused to prostrate in front of Adam.” This was a reference to a Quranic story in which God tells Satan to bow down to Adam, but Satan refuses out of arrogance, only to be condemned forever. To him, Davutoglu had shown satanic arrogance, just like all others who refuse to obey Erdogan.