"We are truly at a political turning point. It may not yet be a dictatorship, but it is well on the way to becoming one," says Didier Billion, deputy director of IRIS (Institute for International and Strategic Relations). For the Turkey specialist, the demonstrations that began after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul and main opponent of President Erdogan are ‘the expression of a growing exasperation among a large part of the population" with the country's leader and his "obsession" with "staying in power". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES