Turkey's Erdogan: Doing it his way, at home and abroad

This story was originally published in May. For updates on the attempted coup in Turkey, read more here.

How to escape the hackneyed song, sung off-key by so many,"I did it my way"?

Try the new, political version: "You go your way,we'll go ours."

Today's geopolitical songwriter isRecep Tayyip Erdogan, the president ofTurkey.

He stands at the centre of several crises,a couple of his own makingand acouple more that he is using for his own ends.He's apowerful man, and he revelsin his power to divide and conquer.

• Erdogan presses for more presidential powers
• Erdogan vows to sue those who insult him

The internationalcrisis that centres on Turkey is that of refugees, principallySyrians. There are more than three million refugees in Turkey, 2.75 million ofthem Syrians, fleeing from the bloody dismemberment of their country.

Turkey's opening of its borders to so many fleeing war and persecution is anextraordinary act of humanitarian generosity.It's also a monumental reproachto the countries of Europe, which have dragged their feet on accepting refugees.

But the burden is great, as wars in Syria and Iraq stretch on. Some refugees havebeen camped in Turkey for years. In the coastal city of Izmir alone, where I wasworking recently with refugees,there are an estimated 200,000.

The strain is enormous, first on the almost 90 per centof refugees not living in camps.

For years they were legally barred from working. But they must live, whichmeans many, including children, work illegally, or atjobs that barely pay.

We met Firaz in the street. He lost a forearm and three fingers on his other handin industrial accidents as a boy. Then war and bombs flattened his house inAleppo and he and his family fled to Turkey and Izmir.

Now this disabled man, sometimes helped by his seven-year-old son, drags a trolleythrough the streets collecting cartons, plastic and aluminum cans. By the end ofthe day his load may weigh 100 kilograms as he drags it to the collection centre.

He's paid a few dollars for his haul.It's all he can do to feed his large family ofseven children.

"This is my future, hard work to feed my kids," he says. This reality is my future."

Turkey has spent billions of dollars supporting refugees, principally the morethan 300,000 in refugee camps. The others have existed in a sort of limbo.

Thenlast year the floodgates opened. Flotillas of rubber dinghies started carriedrefugee from Turkey to Greek islands.More than one million flowed into Europe,and several thousand lost their lives in the dangerous sea crossing.

The old city of Izmir became a staging area, besieged by refugees, many sleepingrough. They streamed into several cafs where smugglers held court. Theywere ready to pay $1,000 US for the crossing and the smugglers were ready totake their money. Some smugglers were making hundreds of thousands ofdollars a week.

The Turkish government did little or nothing.

Billions ofeuros for Turkey

By the end of 2015 European leaders were panicking. Led by Germany's AngelaMerkel, they hammered out a deal with Turkish Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu, Erdogan's No. 2. The Europeans would pay Turkey billions ofeuros to block the flow, and they would take one refugee for every economic migrantreturned from Europe to Turkey.

But, above all, Europe would waive visarequirements in the so-called Schengen zone (which doesn't include Britain) forTurks wishing to travel to Europe.

After the accord, the smugglers and the dinghy flotilla disappeared. Turkishwarships are now seen patrolling the waters where the refugees once crossed.

It seemed like a singular victory for Davutoglu and Turkey. Then Erdoganstepped in.

In early May he abruptly muscled Davutoglu out of his job. One theory was thathe was jealous of Davutoglu's success and worried that he was becoming tooindependent.

The next day,Erdogan announced a congress of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which called itself a moderate Islamic party when it came to power15 years ago. At that congresson SundayErdogan will see a pliant yes-manchosen as prime minister.

Then he and his new yes-man will press ahead with his announced plan to turnTurkey into a French-style presidential republic.Erdogan will take on themantle of a Muslim Charles de Gaulle.

Having created one crisis, Erdogan then sparked another. He all but tore up therefugee-visa agreement with the EU.That's when he said, "You go your way,we'll go ours."

Then came a real burst of anti-European fury. Erdoganaccused European leaders of "hypocrisy"for demanding that Turkey amend its anti-terrorist laws to bringthem into line with judgments by the European Court of Human Rights if itwanted visa-free access to Europe.

In Erdogan's legal armoury, the anti-terrorist laws can be and have been usedagainst many who oppose his government's policies.That includes academicsand journalists, several dozen of whom languish in prison.

It's a crime to insult Erdogan

There's another potent legal weapon a law making it a criminal offence toinsult the president. More than 1,800 people have been charged under it.

His divisive approach, accompanied by the drumbeat of accusation and angryrhetoric, has left many fearful that he wishes to tear up the foundations of thenon-religious republic created in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Erdogan'sview, often stated, is that womenshould be modest and veiled.

Educated women, in particular, are angry."I fear him and hate him. He acts likea sultan," several said to me.

He also acts like a warrior, unleashing his armed forces against not only ISIS inSyria but also the minority Kurds in Turkey andin Iraq andSyria. There have been murderous bomb attacks in retaliation in several Turkish cities.

The atmosphere is panicky and unsettled. The group I was with, sent to profilerefugees in Izmir, was stopped six times in three days and questioned by police, who had been called each time by suspicious residents.

• UN, EU urge Turkey to respect press freedom
• Turkey moves to strip terrorists, backersof citizenship

In the midst of this, the refugees appear to be millions of pawns on a geopoliticalchessboard.

One of Erdogan's advisers spelled it outin a recent tweet.If Europedoesn't knuckle under and agree to visa-free travel for Turks by the end of theyear, if it makes what he called "a bad decision,"then, in his words, "we send therefugees."

Erdogan is a man determined to do it his way.