The king and the boss

TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP Erdoğan no fan of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And vice versa. Last December, the Turkish leader said that Netanyahu’s war on Palestinians in Gaza was not “any less than what Hitler did”. The Israeli premier returned the favour, accusing Erdoğan of “genocide” against his Kurdish citizens. Despite all the heated words, Erdoğan and Netanyahu are far more similar than they are different. Both leaders have successfully built religious nationalist coalitions that have kept them in power for decades, transforming a competitive political system into de facto one-party rule. Both have a similar cult of personality: Netanyahu is nicknamed “King Bibi” and Erdoğan is nicknamed “Reis”, the Turkish word for “boss”. Both have gone to war with the old-guard westernised institutions in their countries, including the…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2024

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