President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was greeted by large crowds early Saturday when he flew into Istanbul's Ataturk Airport in the midst of a military coup meant to force him from office.
Some reports had suggested before his arrival that Erdogan was headed to the Turkish Riviera town of Marmaris, Germany or Qatar.
Erdogan has recently seemed to be mired in disputes. Kurdish and ISIL militants have struck Turkey 14 times in the past year, killing 280 people.
At the same time, Erdogan has become increasingly isolated, frustrating old allies like the U.S. by refusing for years to take firm measures against ISIL. He had recently gotten tougher on the militant group, but that appeared to have brought new problems: Turkish officials believed that ISIL was responsible for the June 28 suicide attack that killed 44 people in Istanbul's airport.
Erdogan helped reignite war with Kurdish separatists in Turkey's southeast, and hundreds of civilians died in fighting that began last year. He alienated Moscow last fall when Turkish forces shot down a fighter jet that he said had strayed into Turkish airspace.
Where Erdogan once held up Turkey as a model of Muslim democracy, he now frequently attacks democratic institutions. He has purged allies. He has hinted that foreign powers were plotting to destroy him.
Recently he set his sights on a new target: transforming the parliamentary system of government into a presidential one, a change his critics say could soon open the door to his seizing the title of president for life.
"The ship is going very fast toward the rocks," said Ergun Ozbudun, a liberal constitutional expert who once defended Erdogan. "Pray for us."
Washington Post, New York Times
