Should Recep Tayyip Erdogan be TIME's Person of the Year 2011?

Spread the love

Who Should Be TIME’s Person of the Year 2011?

From tsunamis to budget battles to revolutions, 2011 has been a tumultuous, news-packed year. Who influenced the news most, for better or worse? Tradition dictates that TIME’s editors choose the Person of the Year, but we want to know: if you were in charge, who would it be? And remember, a person’s inclusion as a candidate in the poll doesn’t mean he, she or they are serious candidates to be named Person of the Year by the magazine

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

By TONY KARON

No leader better personifies the dramatic changes in the Middle East over the past year than Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Leader of a party rooted in political Islam, he won re-election in July to an unprecedented third term of office, having overseen Turkey’s emergence as the world’s second fastest-growing economy (after China). He was hailed as a role model by ascendant Islamists in post-dictatorship Tunisia and Egypt, where he urged the building of secular democracies. And while he has openly challenged the U.S. on Iran and Israel — which once enjoyed close ties with Turkey — Erdogan remains a key U.S. ally, with a strong commitment to NATO. He has also challenged Tehran by working to topple its key Arab ally, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. If anything, Erdogan is likely to become even more central to events in the coming year with the unfolding of the Arab rebellion, the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and mounting international tension over Iran.