To see what democracy
looks like when
its institutions are under
threat and its very survival
is in question,
we came to Istanbul.
The streets were
filled with supporters
of President Erdogan
a who’s been riding
a wave of popularity
that has kept him
in power for 15 years.
For a while, he was the face
of a hopeful, modern Islam,
an outlier in a region torn
by conflict and tyranny.
But over the past
two years, he’s
killed tens of thousands
of dissidents
— professors, lawyers, journalists, anyone
he wants — without trial.
Now he’s called snap
elections hoping
to return to office with
more power than ever before.
His critics fear he’s driving
Turkey towards a dictatorship
that Turkey will be
synonymous with Erdogan.
Ahmet Cik was one of
Turkey’s most fearless
investigative journalists.
Then, Erdogan’s government
jailed him, twice.
He was released in March,
but he could end
up back in prison.
In the meantime, he decided
to run for an opposition
seat in Parliament.
Erdogan supporters are mainly
pious and conservative
working-class Turks.
They tout him as
their champion.
A kid from one of Istanbul’s
blue-collar neighborhoods,
who thrust Turkey forward and
unleashed a booming economy.
That sense of collective
accomplishment
It’s lifted Erdogan to become
a symbol of national pride.
Many people here see
Erdogan as a moderate
advocate of Muslim values
who managed to push out
the secular elite
that had ignored the country’s
religious majority for decades.
His party is hosting a sundown meal
for Ramadan in the
streets.
Among many reforms,
Erdogan expanded religion
in school curriculums
and allowed women to wear
headscarfs in official institutions.
"This is my choice, first of all."
"This is a freedom."
"They give it to me."
"This is our right to have it."
But for every Turk who
praises Erdogan’s reforms,
There’s one who will
tell you that there
is a disturbing subtext.
Dissent is not tolerated.
This is Yaren, a
college freshman
who is in prison
for two months
along with 13 other
classmates, for attending
a protest on campus.
Yaren isn't alone.
We visited the newsroom of
Cumhuriyet,
Turkey's oldest newspaper
and one of the
last independent voices
in the country.
In recent years,
Erdogan has been 
one of the most prolific
jailers of journalists
in the world.
14 of Cumhuriyet's 
executives and journalists
were convicted of aiding terrorism.
They're out jail now,
now pending appeal.
But they’re back
at work determined
to expose the
government that’s
been trying to silence them.
As the opposition
tries to defy Erdogan
its greatest
advantage right now
is the sudden downturn
in the economy.
We traveled to Ordu,
a village on the Black Sea
to ask ordinary people
how they’re faring.
More than 20 percent of the
world’s hazelnuts
shipped from this one
corner of the country.
Muvaffak Aydemir, a
farmer, said the slump is
leaving him empty-handed.
Later, Muvaffak went to a
Farmers' Union meeting
to debate who to support
in the upcoming election.
Their frustration,
echoed in small towns
across the country, is
shaking Erdogan's rural base.
To a country at a crossroads,
Erdogan’s message
about the future
sounds either promising
or terrifying.
