ISTANBUL — A wave of early morning police raids in Turkey on Dec. 17 gave the world a sudden glimpse into the murky inner workings of the country’s ruling elite, pulling back the curtain on astonishing scenes of bribery and graft.

The head of the state-controlled financial giant, Halkbank, had $4.5 million secreted in shoe boxes in his study. Istanbul’s best-known real-estate developer was interrogated over bribes to evade zoning restrictions. The interior minister’s son’s home had so many strongboxes filled with cash, he needed a counting machine to keep the accounts straight. His father has now been forced to resign as part of major cabinet reshuffle. Another minister, Erdogan Bayraktar, who oversees the mega-construction projects that are transforming Istanbul, didn’t leave quietly. He said he’d done nothing without Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s full blessing. “To make people more comfortable, the prime minister should also resign,” he told a private news channel.

These remarks from a lifelong political ally were particularly damaging. Billboards throughout Turkish cities feature Mr. Erdogan staring into the distance and proclaiming that he is “on target” to lead the Republic to its centenary in 2023. Suddenly, with four former ministers in his cabinet implicated in corruption — and with newspapers suggesting that his own family may be next on the prosecutors’ list — he looks like a man staring into the bottom of a well.

The allegations of high-level corruption threaten to undo Mr. Erdogan’s accomplishment of wresting Turkish politics from the military and overseeing a long period of economic growth. Like a Moses in the wilderness, he has led his people from one sort of bondage but appears unable to deliver them to a promised land of transparent government where people are ruled through consensus rather than bullying and threats.