The Turkish media were rocked on May 15 by the words of the media mogul Ethem Sancak, who bluntly declared his love for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a TV interview. Sancak said, “While working on his campaign to get him elected prime minister, from my hometown Siirt, I met him. I saw his honesty and courage. I saw his opposition to oppression, his ability to protect the victim. The more I saw him, I feel in love [with him]. To be honest, during my days as a leftist, I could not understand the love between Mevlana [Jelaluddin Rumi, the poet] and [his companion and spiritual guide] Shams al-Tabrizi. As I got to know Erdogan, I realized that such a kind of divine love between two men is possible. When I [first] declared my love to him, I was already among the top 20 on the Forbes’ list. I did not need to wait for any favors by holding on to Erdogan’s coattails.”
The TV host tried to make sense of it all, as Sancak was obviously trying to clarify why a few days earlier at a rally in Rize he had gone on the record as saying, “An Arabic proverb says, ‘May my parents be sacrificed for you.’ I say to Erdogan: May my mom, dad, wife and children be sacrificed for you.”
Sancak's words have elicited a wide range of criticism and comments, not just from opposition groups in Turkey, but also from pious Muslims. Some conservative pundits argued that Sancak has substituted Erdogan for the Prophet Muhammad. The leader of the conservative Nationalist Action Party, Devlet Bahceli, echoed similar sentiments May 15 and commented further on extreme forms of dedication to Erdogan. Bahceli said, “They claim it is divine to touch Erdogan. They almost declared him a prophet. They called Erdogan ‘the messenger of God.’”
Bahceli went further at a May 16 rally in Konya, the province from which Rumi and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu come. He asked, “What does this protege of Erdogan try to tell us? What does this treasurer for Erdogan aim to do?” Bahceli was particularly taken by the implication that Rumi and his companion may have had a love affair. Indeed, several commentators through Internet postings and social media warned Sancak that according to legend, Rumi’s companion Tabrizi was murdered by none other than Rumi’s son. Of note, historians still debate what happened to Tabrizi. Some claim his disappearance was related to Rumi’s jealous followers.
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