Public image of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

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Tayyip Erdoğan as Prime Minister at the Çanakkale, 2008
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's signature

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The public image of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan concerns the image of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, current President of Turkey, among residents of Turkey and worldwide.

Rating and polls[edit]

International polling[edit]

Opinions of Erdoğan from outside Turkey varies from region and time of his premiership or presidency. During the first years of his premiership in which Turkey reformed its law to comply with EU-accession talks, Erdogan received favorable ratings in Europe, calling the reforms a "silent revolution".[1] The refugee crisis originating from the Syrian civil war lowered the ratings of Erdogan in Europe, while maintaining high support in the Arab world.

Results of the 2017 Gallup International poll
Views of Recep Tayyip Erdogan by country[2]
Country polled Favorable Unfavorable Net score
Vietnam
64%
8%
 +56
Afghanistan
74%
20%
 +54
Kosovo
57%
10%
 +47
Indonesia
58%
13%
 +45
Albania
65%
30%
 +35
Bosnia & Herzegovina
61%
29%
 +32
Bangladesh
53%
26%
 +27
Pakistan
61%
34%
 +27
Moldova
48%
22%
 +26
Mexico
50%
27%
 +23
Turkey
58%
36%
 +22
Kazakhstan
42%
21%
 +21
Azerbaijan
26%
7%
 +19
North Macedonia
47%
29%
 +18
Nigeria
43%
27%
 +16
Iran
46%
30%
 +16
Japan
21%
6%
 +15
Ethiopia
29%
14%
 +15
South Korea
28%
13%
 +15
Romania
46%
32%
 +14
Ukraine
52%
39%
 +13
Ghana
28%
15%
 +13
Russia
40%
30%
 +10
India
19%
9%
 +10
Colombia
35%
29%
 +6
Brazil
29%
23%
 +6
Ecuador
17%
12%
 +5
South Africa
30%
27%
 +3
Thailand
16%
13%
 +3
Philippines
27%
25%
 +2
Iraq
44%
52%
 -8
Peru
14%
23%
 -9
Argentina
16%
32%
 -16
Hong Kong
19%
43%
 -24
Poland
16%
42%
 -26
United States
6%
33%
 -27
Serbia
25%
55%
 -30
Latvia
11%
50%
 -39
United Kingdom
9%
53%
 -44
France
13%
58%
 -45
Ireland
10%
57%
 -47
Italy
12%
59%
 -47
Bulgaria
12%
65%
 -53
Czech Republic
10%
63%
 -53
Croatia
12%
66%
 -54
Spain
8%
62%
 -54
Sweden
6%
73%
 -67
Netherlands
10%
79%
 -69
Slovenia
9%
79%
 -70
Austria
10%
63%
 -73
Armenia
7%
81%
 -74
Germany
10%
85%
 -75
Greece
9%
88%
 -79

Comparative polling[edit]

Erdoğan is the most popular world leader for Arab youths, according to the results of a poll, carried out by the Arab Barometer research network for BBC News Arabic. The survey polled the opinions of 25,000 youths across the Arab world on a wide variety of subjects.[3]

Percentage positive view of leader
Donald Trump Vladimir Putin Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Algeria 12% 30% 66%
Egypt 15% 29% 15%
Iraq 16% 38% 38%
Jordan 6% 14% 77%
Lebanon 12% 36% 30%
Libya 14% 44% 22%
Morocco 14% 24% 61%
Palestine 6% 19% 72%
Sudan 21% 31% 78%
Tunisia 10% 32% 53%
Yemen 5% 11% 54%
Average 12% 28% 51%

Perception[edit]

Accusations of antisemitism[edit]

Erdoğan referred to the Turkish novelist and Islamist ideologue, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, as his muse. Kısakürek was regarded by some analysts, such as Günther Jikeli and Kemal Silay, as the source of his views on Jews.[4][5][6] Kısakürek's publications included the Turkish translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and praise for industrialist Henry Ford's The International Jew, as well as a political program in which he wrote: "Chief among these treacherous and insidious elements to be cleansed are the Dönmeh and the Jews".[7][8] In 1974, as president of the Beyoğlu Youth Group of the Islamist MSP Party, Erdoğan wrote, directed and played the lead role in a play titled "Mas-Kom-Ya" (Mason-Komünist-Yahudi [Mason-Communist-Jew]), which presented freemasonry, communism and Judaism as evil.[9] A 2009 report issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that Erdoğan "indirectly incites and encourages" antisemitism.[10] In 2013, Erdoğan was placed second on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the year's top ten antisemitic personalities, after Erdoğan blamed the "interest rate lobby" as organizers of the mass protests against him in cities around the country in June 2013.[11] In another quote that was regarded as antisemitic, he said "When the word ‘media’ is pronounced, Israel and Israel's administration comes to mind. They have the ability to manipulate it as they wish". He then claimed that not only the international press but also Turkish newspapers were run by Israel.[12] During the campaign for the Turkish elections in June 2015, Erdoğan accused The New York Times of being represented by "Jewish capital" after foreign media outlets expressed concern over the corrosion of freedom of expression in Turkey.[13][14][15]

As a younger man, in 1974, Erdogan wrote, directed, and gave himself the lead role in the play Mas-Kom-Ya, which presented freemasonry, communism, and Judaism as world evils.[16][17] The play features a Muslim factory worker, who sent his son to Europe where the son became influenced by the West, ultimately ending with a Jewish "agitator" posing as a Muslim Turk and inciting the workers against the factory owner, who dies; at one climactic moment, a devoutly Muslim character shouts "all evil regimes are inventions of Jews!"[18][19]

Erdoğan meeting Palestinian President Abbas in Erdogan's presidential palace

When during a televised press conference he was asked if he believed a presidential system was possible in a unitary state. Erdoğan affirmed this and cited Nazi Germany as an example of how this is possible.[20] However, the Turkish president's office said that Erdoğan was not advocating a Hitler-style government when he called for a state system with a strong executive. Furthermore, that the Turkish president had declared the Holocaust, antisemitism and Islamophobia as crimes against humanity and that it was out of the question for him to cite Hitler's Germany as a good example.[21]

In 2014, in response to the Soma mining disaster which killed 300 people, pro-Erdogan Islamist media accused the "Jewish media" and Israel for culpability,[22] and Erdogan himself was filmed saying "why are you running away, spawn of Israel",[23] in what was considered a "clear anti-Semitic slur" by Kemal Silay and Gunther Jikeli.[16]

Neo-Ottomanism[edit]

As President, Erdoğan has overseen a revival of Ottoman tradition, greeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with an Ottoman-style ceremony in the new presidential palace, with guards dressed in costumes representing founders of 16 Great Turkish Empires in history.[24] While serving as the Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdoğan's AKP made references to the Ottoman era during election campaigns, such as calling their supporters 'grandsons of Ottomans' (Osmanlı torunu).[25] This proved controversial, since it was perceived to be an open attack against the republican nature of modern Turkey founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.[by whom?] In 2015, Erdoğan made a statement in which he endorsed the old Ottoman term külliye to refer to university campuses rather than the standard Turkish word kampüs.[26] Many critics have thus accused Erdoğan of wanting to become an Ottoman sultan and abandon the secular and democratic credentials of the Republic.[27][28][29][30] When pressed on this issue in January 2015, Erdoğan denied these claims and said that he would aim to be more like Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom rather than like an Ottoman sultan.[31]

Anti-smoking activism[edit]

He is a well known anti-smoking activist, and often approaches people he sees smoking aiming for them to quit it.[32] During his international journey to the 77th United Nations assembly he collected a cigarette pack of a smoker in the Central Park in New York,[32] and Daily Sabah also reported that he compelled the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Daniel Mitov to quit smoking during the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland.[33] Erdoğan usually demands the smoker to sign the cigarette package he carries, and following deliver it to him.[34] In 2009 his Government passed a law which prohibits smoking in public places[35] and in 2010, he was awarded the "WHO Director-General Special Recognition Award" for his anti smoking activism.[36] On occasion of the Turkish Quit Smoking Day in 2016,[36] an exhibition with the cigarette boxes he had collected so far was displayed at the Presidential Palace.[37]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Erdogan: Turkey has other plans if EU membership fails". Turkse Media (in Dutch). 12 July 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Gallup International's 41st Annual Global End of Year Survey" (PDF). WIN/GIA. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Are Arabs turning their backs on religion?". BBC. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  4. ^ Halil M. Karaveli; M. K. Kaya (9 November 2009). "Islamic conservative and nationalist views on Jews and Israel: another convergence of perceptions?". Turkey Analyst. 2 (20). Central Asia-Caucasus Institute – Silk Road Studies Program. Archived from the original on 9 May 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  5. ^ Jikeli, Günther; Silay, Kemal (May 22, 2014). "'Spawn of Israel': Erdogan's anti-Semitic obsessions". Haaretz. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  6. ^ Singer, Sean R. "Erdogan's Muse: The School of Necip Fazil Kisakurek". World Affairs. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ Kısakürek, Necip Fazıl (1968). Ideolocya örgüsü (10. basım. ed.). İstanbul: Büyük Doğu Yayınları. p. 71. ISBN 9789758180325.
  8. ^ Baer, Marc David (2013). "An Enemy Old and New: The Dönme, Anti-Semitism, and Conspiracy Theories in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 103 (4): 523–555. doi:10.1353/jqr.2013.0033. S2CID 159483845. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Antisemitism in the Turkish Media (Part III): Targeting Turkey's Jewish Citizens". memri.
  10. ^ Ravid, Barak (January 26, 2010). "Israel accuses Turkish PM of inciting anti-Semitism". Haaretz. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  11. ^ "'Spawn of Israel': Erdogan's anti-Semitic obsessions". Haaretz.
  12. ^ Rosenfeld, Alvin H., ed. (2013). Resurgent Antisemitism Global Perspectives. Bloomington [u.a.]: Indiana University Press. p. 318. ISBN 978-0253008909.
  13. ^ "Erdogan ahead of elections: 'Jewish money behind New York Times'". The Jerusalem Post. 6 June 2015.
  14. ^ Taylor, Adam (10 June 2015). "17 things Turkey's Erdogan has said about journalists". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ "Turkey's Erdogan: 'Jewish Capital' Is Behind New York Times". Haaretz. 7 June 2015.
  16. ^ a b "'Spawn of Israel': Erdogan's Anti-Semitic Obsessions". Haaretz. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  17. ^ "Ve Erdoğan sahnede!". Vatan. May 2, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  18. ^ Erdemir, Aykan; Kessler, Oren (May 15, 2017). "A Turkish TV blockbuster reveals Erdogan's conspiratorial, anti-Semitic worldview". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  19. ^ Ozan Ekin Gökşin. "Masonlar, Komünistler, Yahudiler". Avlaremoz. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  20. ^ Erdoğan: Presidential system with unitary state possible just like Hitler's Germany Archived 6 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Zaman, 1 January 2016
  21. ^ "Turkey: President Erdogan's office denies advocating Hitler-style rule". The Independent. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  22. ^ "Pro-Erdogan Paper Blames Mine Disaster on the Jews". Haaretz. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Watch: Erdogan shouts anti-Israel slur at protestor". Haaretz. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  24. ^ "T.C. CUMHURBAŞKANLIĞI : Cumhurbaşkanlığı". tccb.gov.tr.
  25. ^ Oktay Özilhan. "AKP'nin şarkısında 'Uzun adam' gitti 'Osmanlı torunu' geldi ! – Taraf Gazetesi". Taraf Gazetesi. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015.
  26. ^ "Erdoğan: Kampus değil, külliye". ilk-kursun.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2020-01-11.
  27. ^ "Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The 'new sultan' now has a new palace – and it has cost Turkish taxpayers £400m". The Independent.
  28. ^ "Turkey's New Sultan". The Wall Street Journal. 13 August 2014.
  29. ^ "The next sultan?". The Economist. 16 August 2014.
  30. ^ Akkoc, Raziye (2 February 2015). "'Turkey's president is not acting like the Queen – he is acting like a sultan'". The Daily Telegraph.
  31. ^ Akkoc, Raziye (30 January 2015). "Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan: I want to be like Queen of UK". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  32. ^ a b "Erdoğan asks an American to quit smoking at Central Park". Gazete Duvar. 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  33. ^ "President Erdoğan convinces Bulgarian foreign minister to quit smoking at NATO Warsaw Summit". Daily Sabah. 2016-07-09. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  34. ^ Kucuksahin, Sukru (2016). "Are books and movies promoting smoking and drinking? Erdogan thinks so - Al-Monitor: Independent, trusted coverage of the Middle East". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  35. ^ "Türkischer Präsident: Erdogan bestraft Raucher selbst". www.handelsblatt.com (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  36. ^ a b "Presidency Of The Republic Of Turkey : President Erdoğan to Host Reception for People who Quitted Smoking". www.tccb.gov.tr. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  37. ^ "Cigarette packages collected by Erdoğan exhibited at the Presidency". Gazette Duvar. 2022-11-02. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
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