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Turkey's Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) won the general elections held on November 3, 2002, and four months later, in March 2003, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became the country's prime minister. In August 2014, Erdoğan became the president and in 2018 the office of prime minister was abolished entirely. Though while he was prime minister there was a president, and while he has been president there was, for a time, a prime minister, he has been the most powerful political leader in Turkey since November 2002. His rule, which has now lasted over two decades, has already been longer than any Turkish leader in the past century, including that of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Erdoğan won re-election in May 2023, and the next general elections are to be held at the latest by May 7, 2028.
MEMRI's Turkish Media Studies Project has been monitoring Turkish-language media since 2004 and has published hundreds of reports and clips documenting and analyzing material translated from Turkish, of which Erdoğan's speeches are only one section. This compilation reflects how Erdoğan's rhetoric and policies are antisemitic, anti-American, and expansionist. Among other things, he intrudes on European internal affairs and, alarmingly, has expressed an interest in acquiring nuclear weapons.
Click here to view a compilation of clips from speeches by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Anti-U.S. Activity – Threats To Shut Down U.S. Bases In Turkey; Film And Books Demonizing U.S.; Erdoğan's Personal Security Detail Attacks U.S. Citizens In Washington, D.C.
During his time in power, Erdoğan's government refused to allow U.S. troops to be deployed to Turkish soil to invade Iraq. He has personally threatened to shut down U.S. military bases in Turkey. Despite a tightly controlled speech environment in the country, film companies have produced anti-American films such as Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, and publishing companies have printed anti-American books such as the best-selling Metal Storm. Erdoğan's security detail has also attacked American citizens in Washington, D.C.
Four months after the AKP took power, in what the Los Angeles Times at the time called a "stunning rejection," Turkey refused in March 2003, weeks ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, to authorize the deployment of 62,000 U.S. troops to Turkish soil, a strategic loss that largely killed plans for a northern front and meant Coalition forces could only enter Iraq from the south. Erdoğan has threatened to shut down U.S. military bases in Turkey, including İncirlik Airbase and the Kürecik Radar Station, saying: "All of these decisions are in our hands. At the moment that it is necessary to make such a decision, the authority to make this decision belongs to us. At that time, we will sit down with all of our committees. If it needs to be shut down, we will shut down İncirlik [Airbase]. If it needs to be shut down, we will shut down Kürecik [Radar Station]."
It was under Erdoğan's government that in 2006, Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, an action film which at that time was the most expensive Turkish film ever made, was released. The Wall Street Journal called the film, which was set in the context of the Iraq War and referenced events such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, "a cross between 'American Psycho' in uniform and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Metal Storm, published in 2004, is a Turkish novel depicting a war between the United States and Turkey whose climax is the detonation of a nuclear weapon in Washington, D.C., by a Turkish agent. The book quickly sold hundreds of thousands of copies and seven sequels have since been written. Turkish columnist Murat Yetkin wrote in the daily Radikal in 2005: "The Foreign Ministry and General Staff are reading [Metal Storm] keenly... All cabinet members also have it."
Ahead of the seventh anniversary of a May 2017 incident in which Erdoğan's personal security detail fought with American citizens protesting outside the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C., while Erdoğan reportedly watched from nearby, Congressman John Sarbanes led a bipartisan group of 73 lawmakers in calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold Erdoğan and his security detail accountable for the incident. Despite all this, the Biden administration urged Congress in January 2024 to approve the sale of F-16 jets to Turkey "without delay."
Advanced Weapons, Foreign Military Operations, And Aggressive Rhetoric – "I... Am Not Supposed To Have Missiles With Nuclear Warheads. I Do Not Accept This."
On the topic of nuclear proliferation, Erdoğan has said: "Some countries have missiles with nuclear warheads, and not just one or two. I, however, am not supposed to have missiles with nuclear warheads. I do not accept this." He also acquires advanced weapons system from Russia, including the S-400 Air Defense system, about which he said: "With regard to not acquiring the S-400 [air defense system from Russia] and getting the Patriot [missile system from America] in its stead... We cannot give up on the S-400. For us, that page has turned."
This is a closed report. Media and government employees can request a full copy of this compilation by emailing media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.
Click here to view MEMRI's Turkish Media Studies Project.
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