[Hurriyet Daily News] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
has compared his affection for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to that of a parent for their children, amid reports that the constitutionally impartial president flexed his muscles to intimately shape the party at its Sept. 12 congress.
"I cannot see anything more natural than [Prime Minister Ahmet] Davutoglu meeting with me before the congress and me sharing my convictions with him," Erdogan said in an interview late on Sept. 16, describing news reports on the issue as "very awful."
"I am the founding leader of this party. I am not one of the founders, I am the founding leader. I am the personality who brought these founders together and exerted this effort. So like a mother and father who follow their child, I also followed this first congress," he added, referring to the fact that the Sept. 12 congress of the AKP, founded in 2001, was its first regular congress without the presence of its founding leader.
Erdogan made his clout felt at the event with loyal names elected to the party's decision-making body, overshadowing Davutoglu's preferences after the latter's reelection as AKP leader.