Failing to roll back mounting allegation of corruption against members of his government and family, and consequently himself, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finds himself increasingly cornered politically. Many are questioning how his political career can survive the scandal.

Constitutionally questionable steps by the government — which Erdogan’s critics see as attempts to cover corruption allegations — appear also to have come too late for him. Developments show that reliance on restrictive legislation to control the judiciary and the media in the age of information technologies is misplaced. 

Turkey’s new Internet law, which enables the government-controlled “Presidency of Telecommunication” (TIB) to slap a banning order on any Web page within four hours, failed to stop the latest “tape scandal” Erdogan is facing. Details of this latest twist in the corruption scandal rocking Turkey were given by Cengiz Candar in his Feb. 27 post for Al-Monitor.  

This recording on Liveleak.com, which is beyond TIB’s control, has not only dominated the domestic agenda — despite Erdogan’s vehement claims that it is a fabrication — but has also become the focus of international attention on Erdogan.