YEREVAN. – If Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan is able to win the battle against Fethullah Gulen, we will deal with Turkey’s second Ataturk, or with such a figure whose influence in the country will spread onto all domains.      

Armenian capital city Yerevan State University Faculty of Oriental Studies Deputy Dean, turkologist Ruben Melkonyan told the above-said to Armenian News-NEWS.am. 

In his words, the most recent developments in Turkey should be observed in the context of Erdogan’s multi-vector battle policy.

“Erdogan enjoys great influence and prestige to fight against new challenges and to achieve some success. [But] this challenge [to Erdogan by Islamic opinion leader Gulen] is unique because the enemies are from his own circles. This is a new test for Erdogan, but I believe he has pretty big chances to succeed,” Melkonyan said.       

On December 17, 2013, the Istanbul police arrested numerous influential individuals, and these arrests caused many members of Erdogan’s government to hand in their resignation.