Why it’s a marriage made in heaven

Shortly before the March 30 local elections, a group of young, angry men in Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s native Rize gathered a demonstration to show their eternal support for the prime minister. They wore shrouds to illustrate both that their support for Mr. Erdoğan would be “till death” and that they attributed divine qualities to him. That colorful support also appeared at the ballot box, as two-thirds of the town voted for Mr. Erdoğan’s party on March 30.

One of the men in shrouds was Kadem Fener, a local tea shop owner who had decorated his shop with big posters of Mr. Erdoğan and a flag that he says “symbolizes Islam.” All that was typically Turkish, hence no news value, until Mr. Fener appeared in newspapers about 10 days ago. His shop was illegal and the municipality had decided to bulldoze it.

A furious Mr. Fener resisted and made a scene: “How dare you do this to a man who supported our prime minister in a shroud?” Good question. And he asked a better one: “Who is the state above the state that dares to do this to a place decorated with the prime minister’s posters and the flag of Islam?” This reminded me of a Turkish defendant, a few years earlier, at a high crime court who, when asked by the judge to defend himself, stated: “I come from a very religious family. My sister wears an Islamic headscarf.” It was a very to-the-point defense.

I personally have known dozens of Turks who pretended to look pious in the hope that the ruling pious would grant them contracts, jobs with fat salaries or promotion, including “drunkards,” as the man for whom they vote often call their lifestyle. I have known Turks who vote for the same man, who say they must vote...