Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing a dilemma. He can’t run in the 2015 general elections. The charter of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) does not allow it. Otherwise there is a chance he could win an unprecedented fourth term.

But Erdogan is a man with a mission. His self-declared dream is to make Turkey one of the 10 largest economies, and turn it into a key international player by 2023. Meanwhile, Erdogan also talks of wanting to introduce “advanced democracy” to Turkey.

His authoritarian tendencies and lack of tolerance for any criticism, especially from a free press, however, appear to belie this claim. Erdogan’s secular opponents fear his real aim is driven by a vision of a moral society based on Islamic principles. He has also stoked these fears himself.

In February 2012, he expressed a desire to see a Turkish youth that is religious in outlook. Within months the AKP government changed the education system and, in addition to already compulsory religious education, introduced optional lessons on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Holy Koran.