For more than a year, Turkey has been embroiled in a multilayered political crisis-with the future of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the balance. However, based on his party's victories in the March nationwide municipal elections, Erdogan has indicated that he may adopt an even tougher line on his opponents, including some within AKP who have reservations about his allegedly autocratic style. Self-confidence renewed, Erdogan enters a yearlong campaign for parliamentary seats and the presidency. Erdogan's belief that voters have endorsed his no-compromise stance might well intensify the nation's decades-old identity crisis-the root of rising political and social tensions in the country.
