Turkey's Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emboldened by local election wins, today criticised Twitter, the nation's top court, central bank and hinted he could run for the presidency.
Asked whether he would seek to become head of state in August, the first time voters will directly elect the president, Erdogan said he and incumbent Abdullah Gul "will reach a decision after negotiating this between us".
After Erdogan's 11 years in power, months of crisis and bitterly contested mayoral elections last Sunday, Turkey has been left even more polarised between a secular and mostly urban middle-class and Erdogan's loyal base in the conservative Muslim working class.
Erdogan, head of a hugely popular Islamic-rooted party, spoke bluntly today on a flashpoint issue in the crisis: an official block on Twitter that was overturned this week as breaching free speech by the highest court.
"I don't respect this ruling," said a defiant Erdogan, a day after Twitter went live again in Turkey.
"All our national, moral values have been put aside," he said about the social media service, which has hosted a torrent of recordings implicating Erdogan's inner circle in sleaze and corruption.
"Insults to a country's prime minister and ministers are all around."
Echoing the Turkish leader, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said "unfortunately the Constitutional Court exceeded its limits".
Also today, a lower court in Ankara ruled against another, ongoing ban, on the video-sharing site YouTube, imposed on March 27 after it was used to leak a recording of apparent top-level military talks on Syria.
Erdogan denied the Internet bans amounted to censorship.
"It is everyone's free will whether or not to buy their product," he said. "This has nothing to do with freedoms."
The festering scandal fuelled by the online leaks - which the premier has blamed on a "foreign plot" and shadowy supporters of influential US-based Islamic cleric Fetullah Gulen - have damaged Erdogan's standing abroad.
Investor jitters have depressed stocks and the lira and threatened Erdogan's legacy, economic boom times marked by a spate of construction mega-projects.
Erdogan also handed out advice to another independent state body, the central bank, which in January hiked rates to arrest the lira's steep slide.
"The central bank should hold an extraordinary meeting to cut (interest rates)," he said.
"Investors in Turkey will be eager once interest rates are lowered. More investments will be made. We are doing quite well right now in economic terms.
