Turkey Turned Into ‘Middle-Earth’ Under Erdogan, Opposition Says

(Bloomberg) -- Turkish politics is having another run-in with the inhabitants of “Middle-earth.”

Meral Aksener, leader of the opposition Iyi Party, has invoked British author J.R.R. Tolkien and his epic fantasy novel “the Lord of the Rings” in rounding on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's almost absolute grip on power.

“The Ring is the executive presidency,” Anadolu Agency cited Aksener as saying on Tuesday in Ankara, referring to Turkey's presidential system of governance that's been widely criticized for weakening the state's separation of powers since it was introduced last year.

Aksener also likened Erdogan's son-in-law, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, to Gollum -- Tolkien's fictional character who was corrupted by the power of the Ring. Big construction companies, meanwhile, are the Nazgul, the wraiths who obtained immortality as servants of the main antagonist in the saga, she said.

In 2016, a court found a family doctor guilty of insulting Erdogan via a social media post that appeared to compare him to Gollum. The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson weighed in on that case, saying that the pictures posted were rather those of the character's alter-ego, Sméagol.

Erdogan pursues “absolute power,” while Turkey is on the brink of an abyss, Aksener said, reflecting the joint opposition's repeated condemnation of his authoritarian rule.

Her nationalist Iyi Parti commands 39 lawmakers out of 589 in total. The party won almost 10% of votes in the 2018 general election.

To contact the reporter on this story: Taylan Bilgic in Istanbul at tbilgic2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Cagan Koc

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