This Is How Erdogan Manages His Battles With His Opponents

Many controversies and discussions arose on social media after a video clip spread showing Russian President Vladimir Putin waiting for his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for about a minute before their meeting on July 19, 2022, on the sidelines of the tripartite summit in Tehran.

Tweeters and political activists were impressed by Erdogan's behavior in front of Putin and considered that he had responded to a similar situation that occurred two years ago.

Erdogan's delay was intentional, as Turkish and global newspapers reported, and he came to respond to an incident that took place in Moscow in 2020 when Putin made him wait for more than two minutes with his accompanying delegation.

Putin is famous for keeping world leaders waiting, including the former German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who waited 4 hours and 15 minutes in 2014.

Also, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych waited 4 hours before meeting Putin.

So did the Russian leader with former US presidents, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Queen Elizabeth II of England.

However, this time Putin clashed with Erdogan, who did not forget his first act and repaid it to him.

The Turkish president is known for his shocking attitudes and his quick wit toward leaders if he is exposed to an embarrassing or offensive situation.

 

Erdogan's Outrage

One of the situations that can be evoked is the case of the Davos Economic Forum in 2009, when Erdogan, who was Turkiye's prime minister at the time, poured out his anger on then-Israeli President Shimon Peres, in a scene that has been stuck in our minds for a long time.

The sessions held at the Davos Forum in January 2009 seemed calm and normal until the Secretary-General of the United Nations (at that time) Ban Ki-moon and the Secretary-General of the Arab League at the time, Amr Moussa, began calling for the necessity of returning the peace process in the Middle East to its tracks.

The Israeli occupation launched the brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and early 2009, a few days before the Forum.

Erdogan then condemned Israel's disproportionate use of force during the 3-week war and demanded the inclusion of Hamas in the political process.

However, Peres responded violently, raising the tone of his voice. Then the Israeli president asked, loudly and waving his hand nervously at Erdogan: "What would your reaction be if the missiles fell every night on Istanbul?"

Erdogan reacted strongly and directed his speech to Peres, saying: "The reason why you raise your voice is because you feel guilty."

Erdogan told the Israeli president: "When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches."

Erdogan's outrage was not directed at Peres only but also turned to the audience, criticizing their applause after the Israeli president's speech.

He said, "It is very sad that people applaud the death of so many," then left the stage, saying Davos was over for him.

At that time, Erdogan returned to Istanbul, where thousands gathered at Ataturk International Airport to welcome the Turkish Prime Minister.

For the first time, they have seen a leader of their country oppose an Israeli leader and put him in such an embarrassing position before the world.

 

Obama Feet

Erdogan has always dealt with critical situations with great agility and strength and often inverted the verse, so he emerged victorious from the facts, contrary to what his opponents wanted.

In 2014, the atmosphere was tense between Washington and Ankara due to the situation in Syria.

According to the Turkish newspaper Deccan report on April 6, 2014, during the meeting of the then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former US President Barack Obama, Erdogan asked that Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan be included in the conversation, but Obama refused.

This meeting created more tension and nervousness between the two parties that emerged later.

On September 3, 2014, Erdogan met Obama on the sidelines of the NATO summit held in the United Kingdom. Everything was going smoothly as the two leaders sat across from each other.

Obama began preparing himself to raise foot on foot in the face of Erdogan, a move, albeit natural, but out of protocol and related to the mindset of the Turkish and Middle Eastern citizens with some derogation and disdain.

He did not issue an analysis that Obama wanted to break Erdogan's power and prestige through this movement, but in any case, the Turkish leader did not let it pass.

With a noticeable intuition, Erdogan prepared himself and raised foot on foot at the same moment so that the snapshot was widely circulated on social media with praise and admiration.

 

Turkish Flag

Even if Erdogan does not enter into a direct clash, he is able to make routine fleeting moments the focus of attention.

On September 8, 2013, the leaders of the G-20 summit gathered in the Russian capital, Moscow, and lined up next to each other, each in the position assigned to his country's flag on the ground.

Erdogan, who understands the mood of his people well, how high their sense of nationalism is, and the sanctity of the flag for them, quickly bowed and raised his country's flag from the ground and put it in his pocket in front of the world leaders.

Some of them actually started laughing because of the strange situation to them, but on the popular level, the issue was very well received by the Turks.

Those successive facts summoned the politician Yasin Aktay, the former advisor to the Turkish president, to release his book Times of Charisma on February 10, 2020.

In the book, he shed light on the leadership qualities of Erdogan, who lived through the transitional stages between the periods of dictatorship and the democratic republic in Turkiye, his awareness of the political and social realities, his ability to understand the masses, and to deal with international and regional challenges.

In his explanation of Erdogan's rule strategy, Aktay used the concept of charismatic power for two main reasons he cited in his book, the first of which is the historical, scientific studies related to this field, and the second is the control of the charismatic leader as a form of granting power in sociology.

He pointed out that the success of the party or the leader in overcoming crises is one of the most important elements that enrich that charisma.

He attributed the charismatic personality of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the return of democratic life to Turkiye after the era of military coups.

Among the positions that Aktay believes have contributed to making the supreme charisma of President Erdogan since his departure from the ceiling of local government to the hegemony of Turkiye in 2002 is his strict stance in the face of the putschists, as well as his famous stance towards Shimon Peres.