Turkey: Empire of Erdogan S01E01 - Episode 1

Born at a time when Turkey is ruled by the secular elite, Recep Tayyip Erdogan joins an Islamist party and becomes hugely popular as mayor of Istanbul. But Turkey's constitution forbids the mixing of religion and politics, so when the party Erdogan belongs to is shut down, Erdogan is sent to jail and banned from being an MP for life.

In prison, Erdogan plots an astonishing comeback, creating a new, more moderate party which sweeps to power in 2002. It overturns his ban from politics and makes him prime minister.

In his early years in power, Erdogan transforms Turkey, gaining ever more support at home and abroad. But he knows that to feel safe in power, he needs to deal with the all-powerful military. So he forms an alliance with the cleric Fethullah Gulen, and together they plot to remove hundreds of high ranking officers and judges and replace them with followers of Gulen.

After ten years of Erdogan's rule, a demonstration about plans to redevelop Gezi Park in Istanbul becomes a massive protest movement that threatens to topple his government.