Come to think of it , would Turkey actually be a better place if he never entered politics ?

Long before Erdogan, Turkey intervened in Cyprus with the support of the international community (for the first operation) and maintained a presence on the island ever since despite decades of Western sanctions and arms embargoes. Ecevit closed all US military installations in Turkey except Incirlik in response, and the poppy ban was reversed the year earlier despite US pressure by Nixon. There’s other matters like Turkey’s refusal to grant the US transit for its operations in Iraq in 1991, signing the Adana Agreement with Syria in 1998 after essentially forcing them to give up Ocalan (I’ll bet Bahçeli was worried for him), maneuvering the Kardak crisis with Greece to force a stalemate despite Greek soldiers/ships blockading the islets, etc. Let’s face it. You can look at Erdogan, who was so blue-balled he spoke more harshly of the opposition than he did of the US when American operatives arrested Turkish soldiers in Iraq in 2003, and who proclaimed so grandly that he would only extradite Pastor Brunson in exchange for Erdo’s old buddy Gülen only to end up capitulating after 3 months of sanctions. No Gülen extradition in exchange and no dropping of the Halkbank prosecution (essentially until 2026 during Trump’s 2nd term). Let’s also not pretend Erdogan’s Syria policies were entirely successful either, especially when there’s the botched Idlib operation and the mute response to Russia (Russia, not the ragtag Syrian army) killing 34 Turkish soldiers or the 2019 operation against the same YPG Erdogan would have made peace with in Ankara in 2014 as long as the PKK/Kurdish elements in Turkey supported his strengthened presidential system. The expansion of the defense sector has certainly been beneficial for Turkey and Erdogan, though it’s also worth noting many of the local programs were still in their infancy before the AKP. Shouting at Israel is meaningless when the Erdogan’s Ministry of Trade announces a halt of trade with Israel only after being defeated in the 2024 local elections, and all the more ridiculous when Israel naturally pivots to the Greece/Cyprus axis. It’s not so black and white. Turkey wasn’t some colony before Erdogan, this discourse is sheer nonsense. Thanks to his repeated instances of worthless virtue-signaling and grandstanding, you could make the argument either way. Should we get into the Sweden/Finland NATO fiasco? The S400s/F35s? Relations with Egypt and the Gulf States, which Erdogan seemed sure supported his ex-hocaefendi in 2016?