Africa & Middle East

Turkey

Political journey

The successor state of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923 as a secular, Western-facing state. It has seen several military coups and a long Kurdish insurgency. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in power since 2003, has reshaped the state around a strong presidency and a more religious, conservative politics.

Turkey today

Its current leader’s position on the ten Caucus dimensions.

💰EconomySlightly free market
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly authoritarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureStrongly traditional
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationStrongly nationalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentLeaning growth-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyLeaning tech-optimist
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceStrongly strength-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsLeaning anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionStrongly religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismStrongly interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

Who leads Turkey today

Portrait of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

President of Turkey, 2014 to present (Prime Minister 2003 to 2014)

Has dominated Turkish politics for over two decades, shifting the country toward a strong presidency and a greater public role for religion.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sits in the right-authoritarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: slightly free market and strongly authoritarian. The clearest positions are strongly authoritarian on liberty and authority, strongly traditional on culture and strongly religious on religion.

Full profile of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan →

Political views closest to Turkey’s leadership

Other people from Turkey

Countries with similar leadership

Ranked by how close their current leaders are on the ten dimensions.

Country histories are short summaries. Positions are simplified estimates of the leaders included in Caucus as of October 2026, and percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions.