Increasingly strong, increasingly insane. Recep Tayyip Erdogan enthroned himself as the “second conqueror” of Hagia Sophia after Mehmet II in 1453. He proclaimed it in his “message to the nation” broadcast on television on that funeral day – July 10, 2020 – when Ataturk’s 1934 decree transforming the building into a museum was rescinded. Mustapha Kemal had given back to humanity the basilica, jewel of Christianity for 916 years, then flagship mosque of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries. He wanted to put an end to the Islam-Western divide and ease conflicts. Erdogan, on the other hand, is turning them back on.
In deciding to obtain Russia’s S400 ground-air missiles, amongst the most sophisticated in the world, capable of reaching more than 80 targets at a time, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan merely defied the United States and jeopardised his country’s chances of remaining within NATO.
