'Erdoganism' makes Western debut at NATO summit
Though US President Donald Trump is already claiming his share of headlines at the NATO summit, much of the world is waiting to get a look at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's foreign policy approach now that his office has been granted expanded powers with his July 9 inauguration.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro describes his close friend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a “leader of the new multipolar world.” Maduro has been enthusiastically tweeting Erdogan's praises since July 8. Though Maduro may not be a good example of a statesman with wide international stature and prestige, his characterization of Erdogan is quite accurate.
Erdogan’s July 9 inauguration might as well have been called a coronation with all the pomp that surrounded it. In addition to Maduro and the leaders of Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa, the Balkans, Southeast Europe and some of Turkey’s immediate neighbors, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended, plus old friends of Erdogan — former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Daily Cumhuriyet columnist and former Sorbonne professor Ahmet Insel said the ceremony marked “the era of Erdoganism” in Turkish history — Erdoganism meaning a blend of Turkish nationalism, Islamism and aphorism. Insel believes Erdoganism is the second authoritarian regime identified with a cult leader in Turkish history, after Kemalism, which was identified with modern Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
But what was puzzling was the lack of Middle Eastern representation at the ceremony. The Gulf region was represented by the Qatari emir, but very few leaders from the region attended. Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, was in Ankara for the occasion, following the tense period created by the Kurdish independence referendum. Yet, curiously, his name was not mentioned in the official guest list, nor was his attendance reported by pro-Erdogan media outlets.
