Walking through the entrance hall of Istanbul's brand new opera house on October 29, 2021, President Erdogan could not have dreamed of a better photo shoot to make people forget his woes of past weeks, against a backdrop of economic recession and narrowly avoided diplomatic fiasco . The ultramodern building, inaugurated on the anniversary of the Turkish Republic, occupies a very special place in the heart of the “neo-sultan”: erected on the ruins of the former Atatürk cultural center, which was at the forefront of Gezi protests of 2013, he faces the massive mosque, which opened six months ago, across Taksim Square. What better way for the former Islamo-conservative mayor of Istanbul to make his mark on a city and a country that he has been shaping in his image for twenty years?
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The facade smile is not enough, however, to mask the fatigue, evident, which takes shape before his eyes.
His interlocutors say he is weakened, often absent, and even subject to memory loss.
Occasionally,
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