By Selin Bucak ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan's caustic rhetoric has won him the devotion of Turkey's conservative Islamic heartlands, from his dismissal of political enemies as "worse than leeches" to his comparisons of Israel's actions in Gaza to those of Hitler. His fiery podium speeches and blunt populism have galvanized core supporters and cemented his rise as modern Turkey's most powerful leader, culminating in his victory this month in the country's first popular election for president. His language, often playing on a schism in Turkish society between a Western-facing, largely secular class suspicious of his Islamic ideals and a pious segment of society who see him as a hero, has left opponents fearing his presidency will only polarize Turkey ever further. He has made no secret of his ambition to establish an executive presidential system, a move his critics say would put too much power in the hands of a leader who is steering the country ever further away from the secular ideals of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern republic.
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