Erdogan's fall from grace

The fourth dimension is foreign policy, which was centered on the principle doctrine of ensuring "zero problems with neighbors" that Prime Minister DavutoÄŸlu (the then-foreign minister) espoused and worked diligently to implement.

Yet presently, the picture looks drastically different. There is hardly any neighboring country (and many others in the region) that Turkey does not have a problem with, including Armenia, Greece (over Cyprus), Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, etc.

Turkey has also strained its relations with the US and the EU over their differing policy toward Syria and the campaign against ISIS. The irony is that while "zero problems with neighbors" requires political and diplomatic savviness to resolve problems, Erdogan largely opted for a confrontational approach. The fifth dimension is the growing imbalance between Islam and democracy. By all accounts, the government has gone far beyond a healthy mix of religion and democracy. Erdogan has systematically embraced religiously-oriented policies both domestically and within Turkey's foreign relations. He favors any organization or country with strong Islamic credentials (such as Qatar and Hamas) over others, regardless of the conflicting issues involved.

Instead of striking a balance between a democratic form of government and Islam as the religion of the state, Erdogan's deliberate abandonment of political and social reforms in favor of growing Islamic indoctrination (in contradiction to the republic's founding principle) began to backfire. Erdogan badly underestimated the strength and popularity of Turkish secularism.

To be sure, Erdogan's backsliding on all fronts has finally caught up with him. His successes during his first two terms seem to have blinded him. As a result, his ambition to change the constitution to grant him near-absolute power as president was overwhelmingly rejected by the electorate.

The Turkish public will do well to remember that only through the power of the ballot were they able to stifle Erdogan's blind ambition, and by the wise use of the ballot in the future they can restore Turkey's potential as a great democratic power and a significant player on the global stage.

Erdogan's dream to preside as President during Turkey's one hundredth anniversary in 2023 with near-absolute power and become the Atatürk of modern Turkey has now evaporated. His insatiable lust for power, arrogance, and the dictatorial manner by which he wielded his authority have finally done him in.

As Shakespeare once observed, "it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant."